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THE 



HOUSEKEEPER 



AND 



GARDENER. 



BY 



REBECCA A. I^PTON. 



" In every form of government tiie enduring element is in the cultivation of tfie 
eoU." — Quarterly Revieiv, Vol. XLIV. No. II. Art. VIII. 



BOSTON: 
CROSBY, NICHOLS, AND COMPANY, 

117 Washington Street. 

CINCINNATI: GEORGE S. BLANCHARD. . 

I808. 



-^+ 



\\ 



-^•^ 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858, by 

H. A. UPTON, 

la the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 






CAMBRIDGE I 

STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BT METCALP AND COMPANT. 



PREFACE. 



The present volume is made up from the gleanings of a 
lifetime. Whenever facts and every-day phenomena have 
forced themselves on my attention, whether in books or ac- 
tual experience, I have noted them down in a commonplace- 
book. These gleanings have nothing but plain language and 
practical usefulness to recommend them, verbal nicety and 
literary ornament being no way suited to my purpose. 

My principal objects have been to bring into the compass of 
one small volume such information as may be useful to both 
housekeeper and gardener, whether residing in village, coun- 
try, or city, and to keep in mind through the whole work the 
various fortunes of the American woman, whose life is often 
partly spent in cities, partly on Western prairies, and partly 
on Southern plantations, — perhaps begun in affluence, to be 
finally shorn of all but health, hands, and unfailing courage. 

The receipts I have given I know to be good. Almost all 
are original, that is, of family origin, — not taken from books. 
A few have been given me by friends. 

If the work should have any influence, however small, on 
the tendencies of the present day, not only to increase the 



IV PREFACE. 

number of manual employments, but also to widen the hori- 
zon of observation, for woman, I shall be happy. The imagi- 
nations and feelings of women are sufficiently cultivated ; but 
perhaps common sense is less so, because it finds less stimu- 
lus for action in the present partial education and cramped 
position of women. Novels, poetry, and excitement-meetings 
may all be very well as occasional mental condiments, but 
when offered as the only diet to the sex whose nervous con- 
stitution is proverbially sensitive, it may lead the physician 
and philanthropist to doubt whether these kinds of mental 
dietetics do not produce much of that nervousness, insanity, 
and hopeless hypochondriasis, wliich cause humanity to war 
with itself both within and without. 

R. A. UPTON. 



NOTICE. 



Tins work was first issued under the title of " Homo 
Studies," and passed through two editions, receiving the 
most complimentary notices from the press. 

The present title is now given it as better expressing the 
desisfu of the book. 



HOME STUDIES. 



AC ATE R, n. An old English word. A provider, ca- 
terer, or purchaser of provisions. An acater, to understand 
his or her business, should know which meats and vegetable? 
best consort with certain seasons ; how to choose young 
chickens, by trying the flesh under the wing, seeing if the 
breast-bone yields to the touch, if the scales on the leg be 
smooth, and the spurs scarcely budded, and the claws tender 
and short ; how to select healthy meats, by rejecting such as 
show a yellow, diseased appearance in the fatty portions, or 
a sj)otted, unequal surface, as if indifferently bled, or coarse, 
loose fibre, indicating poor feed. A good acater should make 
himself familiar with the most reliable brands for flour ; the 
choicest varieties of apples for dessert, and also for culinary 
preparations ; the difference between dry, unadulterated 
sugai', and that which is the refuse of the sugar-factory, — 
between acid and fermenting molasses, and rich, wholesome 
sirup. In short, a good acater and caterer should have good 
sense, nice observation, be sonaething of a chemist, and a 
little of a Yankee. 

ACCOMPANIMENT, n. That which accompanies. 
(^Worcester.) This word seems to be principally devoted 
to the musical and culinary arts. One axiom with the house- 
keeper is never to have insipid meats accompanied with 
1 



2 ACCOMPANIMENT. 

insipid vegetables. Veal is, therefore, relieved by lemon, 
horseradish, pungent salads, pickles, and piquant condiments. 
Young onions, cabbage salad, water-cresses, and lettuce, 
owing to their bitter properties, are desirable accompani- 
ments for veal. This acrimonious property should, however, 
be mitigated, by soaking such vegetables, before cooking, 
about half an hour in cold water. 

A Boiled Leg of Mutton should be accompanied by mashed 
turnips and caper sauce. 

Roasted Mutton and Venison require currant or grape 

jelly. 

Mutton stuffed and baked, or stewed, should have tomato 
sauce. 

Roasted Turkey is usually served accompanied by a slice 
of boiled smoked tongue, celery, and cranberry jelly. Mush- 
rooms and mushroom sauce are always desirable with roasted 
poultry and game. 

Boiled Turkey, with oyster sauce ; cauliflower, if in season. 

Roasted Goose, with apple sauce and onions. 

Roasted Chicken, with stewed tomatoes, summer-squash, 
salsify fritters, and rice croquets. If out of season for sum- 
mer-squash and salsify, rice croquets, onions, and tomatoes 
are all desirable accompaniments. Tomatoes are easily 
preserved in tin canisters, kept air-tight, through the win- 
ter. Celery should, if possible, always be on the table with 
roasted chicken ; asparagus, if in season. 

Boiled Chicken, with egg sauce or oyster sauce, or parsley 
sauce. A small bit of sweet, young pork boiled with it. 
Asparagus, if in season. 

Roast Beef, with macaroni, hominy, boiled rice, if in 
winter, squash ; tomatoes. 

Boiled Beef, with carrots, cabbage, parsnips. 

Roasted Duck and Game, with currant jelly, mushroom 
sauce, and onions. 



ACCOUNT-BOOK. 3 

Boiled Salt Codfish is accompanied with carrots, beets, 
and onions, with egg sauce and melted pork gravy, com- 
monly known as dip. 

Tongues and Sounds are served with the same vegetables 
and sauces. 

Fried Fish are mostly served with crisped parsley. 

Baked Fish, with anchovy sauce ; pickles and lemons 
being always on the table. 

Boiled Salmon, with caper sauce, egg sauce, and anchovy 
sauce. 

Potatoes and artichokes are served, in their various ways, 
with most dishes, though with plain boiled dishes mashed 
or fried potatoes would be an anomaly. They are simply 
boiled whole for such dishes. 

Of course, these are merely suggestions ; and offered prin- 
cipally to the young housekeeper as inducements for her 
to look for and adhere, whenever compatible, to palatable 
affinities. 

ACCOUNT-BOOK. A book containing accounts. Every 
housekeeper will find herself repaid for her trouble if she 
allow her register of personal and household expenses to 
expand into a kind of commonplace-book. For example, 
if she live in the country, under the head of Animals, let her 
register facts with regard to her poultry, cows, &c., reserving 
several blank pages to be filled up as occasion may offer. 
Under the head of Plants, reserving the blank pages as be- 
fore, set down all reliable facts and observations with regard 
to soil suitable to a certain class of plants, and the habits 
of such plants as she may be cultivating; what class of 
insects infest them, and by what means they are best de- 
stroyed. If she be a mother, let her make an entry, under 
the general head of Disease, of the rise, progress, and depart- 
ure of different diseases, as experienced by her children. 



4 ACIDS. 

In short, whenever any important fact offers itself, let it 
be put down under some general head, making an index at 
the end of the book of each head, and the number of the 
page on which each subject is placed. This is the only safe 
way of being sure of your facts. Medical men know this ; 
and after listening to statements at college meetings, they 
inquire of the speaker. Did you at the time make an entry 
of these things in writmg ? If the reply is in the negative, 
they refuse to accept the matter, whatever it may be, as 
reliable data. 

ACIDS. Liquids and substances vfhich have a sharp 
taste, and the property of changing vegetable blues to red. 
This word is now used by chemists for a substance which 
has not these properties, but has the capabihty of combining- 
with, and neutralizing, alkalies, various earths, and metallic 
oxides, and in these forms is called salts. 

In most plants we find vegetable acids. 

Tartaric Acid is discovered in grapes, tamarinds, white 
mulberries, dandelions, &c., &c. 

Citric Acid exists in lemons, oranges, whortleberry, the 
onion, &c., &c. 

Malic Acid is the only acid detected in the apple ; it is 
found also in the barberry and the plum, and some other 
fruits. The gooseberry, currant, cherry, strawberry, rasp- 
berry, admit it with citric acid. Combined with lime, it is 
found in the houseleek and other plants ; with both lime and 
potash, in spinach, rue, mignonette, and many other plants. 

Benzoic Acid is in benzoin, the medicinal resin imported 
from the East Indies ; also in the balsam which is extracted 
from a South American tree called Tolu, in storax, in an 
herb of the sage genus, called Clary, in chickpea, &c., &;c. 

Oxalic Acid is found in many common plants ; in wood- 
sorrel, combined with potash ; united with lime, it is detected 



ACIDS. 5 

in the root of the medicinal squills, common rhubarb, pars- 
ley,' fennel, &c., &c. 

Prussic Acid exists, as is well known, in the kernel of the 
bitter almond, in laurel leaves, peach leaves and blossoms, 
&c., (fee. 

Gallic Acid is formed in the common nutgall, which is an 
excrescence formed by the puncture of an insect upon an 
Asiatic species of oak ; also in the bark of many trees, viz. 
the oak, chestnut, beech, mountain-ash, sumach, birch, plum, 
and many others. 

Besides these vegetable acids, there are other acids ex- 
tracted from the mineral kingdom, which are much used in 
the arts. Among these is Sulphuric Acid, which is manufac- 
tured by burning sulphur, which, combined with soda, forms 
the well-known substance, Glauber salts. Sulphuric acid is 
much used in the bleaching and dyeing processes. 

Carbonic Acid is obtained from various substances, and is 
now produced in a solid form. It exists in common air in 
minute quantities ; in larger proportions it is poisonous. 

Acids and oxygen combine with copper, and in this man- 
ner poisonous matter is generated. Culinary vessels, if 
made of this material, should be lined with tin. Copper- 
bottomed ships are avoided by marine animals on account 
of the poisonous properties contained in the metal. Bell- 
metal is copper united with tin, and, for the reason above 
assigned, is objectionable for culinary purposes, and, if used, 
must be kept religiously cleaned. 

Leaden vessels for milk have been known to produce in- 
jurious effects. The air combining with the cream, the latter 
furthers the oxidation of the lead, and carbonic acid being 
attracted, a carbonate of lead (white lead) is created, which 
throws a poisonous property into the milk. In the old 
country, where extensive dairies have been kept, painter's 
colic has been communicated to dairy-maids through the 
1* 



6 ACID ACETIC. 

agency of these leaden vessels. Zinc, tin, and iron-tinned 
vessels are not open to these objections ; and porcelain- 
lined vessels have now mostly superseded bell-metal pre- 
serving-kettles. 

Acids are still imperfectly known. The careful house- 
wife knows that they are powerful agents, and to be used 
with care. Fat, which retains its own in water, ether, and. 
alcohol, surrenders, by gradually decomposing, when strong 
acids are applied to it. 

ACID ACETIC, OR VINEGAR, it is well known, is 
made mostly from beer, wine, or cider, by exposing these 
liquids to the atmosphere. 

A good vinegar for home consumption can be made by 
mixing the weight of one part of strong brown sugar with 
seven parts of water and a little yeast, putting the mixture 
into a cask where the bung-hole shall be covered with a 
bit of gauze or muslin, to keep out the insects. The cask 
must be exposed to the sun and out-door atmosphere for 
some weeks. 

A good cider vinegar is made by putting one pound of 
white sugar to a gallon of cider, and allowing it to ferment 
four months. 

French white-wine vinegar is much esteemed for domestic 
purposes. 

The Vinaigre d'Orleans is made from the red wine of the 
Orleannais. Vinegars called Champagne vinegars are often 
made from red wines. 

The excise laws of England permit the use of free sul- 
phuric acid, to the amount of one part in one thousand, but it 
is supposed that this amount is often increased. 

Vinegar can be thoroughly purified by distillation, as we 
find it in the transparent distilled vinegar of commerce, 
thouofh still united with water. 



ALCOHOL. 7 

To make Aromatic or Cleansing Vinegar, gather a hand- 
ful of lavender leaves and flowers, the same proportion of 
sage leaves and flowers, hyssop, thyme, balm, wormwood, 
and savory ; take a large handful of salt, and two cloves of 
garlic or one small onion ; mix these ingredients together, 
and pour over them a gallon of pure white-wine vinegar. 
^ Subject this mixture to a gentle heat (keeping the vessel 
in which you have put it closely covered) for three weeks. 
Then squeeze the herbs over the Hquor, strain it carefully, 
and bottle it for the sick-chamber. It is a grateful relief for 
sudden fainting-fits, and it is often beneficial in cases of 
sprains and flesh-wounds. 

Acetic acid, as obsei-ved above, is found in many plants 
and in the sap of trees ; in almost all the plants it exists in 
the form of salts, such as the acetate of lime or potassa. 

ALABASTER, n. A carbonate of lime, also a compact 
gypsum, from which beautiful ornaments are made. One 
method of cleansing alabaster is to leave it in pure water 
about ten minutes, and then rub it with a brush dipped in 
dry, powdered plaster. Another mode, which the author 
followed with great success, cleansing some exquisite Italian 
statuettes by the process, is to take one pint of rain-water 
mixed with two ounces of aquafortis, wash the alabaster with 
this liquid, applied with a fine brush for about five minutes, 
then rinse it carefully with rain-water, wipe it dry, and place 
it in the sun for two or three hours. Care should be taken 
to have the brush pass equally over the surface, so as to rest 
equally on every part. The aquafortis should not be allowed 
to touch the skin, as it burns and stains the flesh : it is a 
heavy liquid, yellow in color, and contains thirty parts of 
nitrogen and seventy of oxygen. ^ 

ALCOHOL, 71. A liquid obtained by the distillation of 
wine, beer, and other fermented spirits. 



8 ALCOHOL. 

The wine or wash is subjected to a slow heat, and as the 
spii-it rises, it is easily collected in a worm surrounded by 
cold water. Gin is thus procured through the distillation 
of fermented barley or other gram ; rum, from molasses ; 
brandy, from wine. None of these processes, however, elicit 
pure alcohol, for the strongest brandy contains between forty 
and fifty per cent of water. Impure alcohol can be im- 
proved by repeated distillations, and by mixing it with some 
salt that has a strong attraction for water, Hke the salt of 
tartar ; in this way it becomes more concentrated as it gradu- 
ally parts with much of its water. 

Alcohol at its greatest strength does not freeze, even in 
the coldest weather. It is very volatile, boilmg at 176° of 
Fahrenheit, and in a vacuum, at 56°. It unites with water. 
It is combustible, burning with a white flame, without leaving 
any residuum. 

Alcohol is exceedingly useful, through its capability of 
dissolving vegetable principles, so that such parts as contain 
medicinal virtues can be disengaged and preserved by the 
agency of alcohol. Such medicines are known technically 
as tinctures. Science owes an incalculable debt to alcohol, 
as through what are called by anatomists wet preparatioiis, 
that is, putting objects in a perfect state into alcohol, the 
scientific world sees the vast collections of animal and vege- 
table structure and growth preserved in a perfect state in 
the museums and college halls of the civilized world. 

Alcohol is used to keep venison warm, by serving it up on 
metal plates, usually of block-tin, commonly called venison- 
blazers, or chafing-dishes, which are hollow in the centre, 
and filUng them with the spirit, which is occasionally ignited, 
at a small orifice placed on the side of the plate. Alcohol 
is also much used in lamps placed under kettles, to keep 
liquids, wliile on the table, at a proper temperature. 

The spirits distilled from different fermented liquors, Sir 



ALIMENT. 9 

Humphrey Davy says, differ in their flavor, for peculiar 
odorous matters or oils rise, in most cases, with the alcohol. 
The spirit from malt has a taste similar to oil, brought 
out by the distillation of vegetable substances. The purest 
brandies have a peculiar oily matter, formed, it is supposed, 
by the action of tartaric acid upon alcohol ; rum owes its 
characteristic taste to a principle in the sugar-cane. 

ALE. A liquor obtained from the "infusion of malt 
and hops by fermentation. The chief difference between 
ale and beer lies in the lesser proportion of hops used 
for ale. 

There are a variety of ales brewed ; there is strong ale, 
table ale, pale ale, and browji ale. Pale ale is made from 
barley or malt but slightly dried, and is thought to be of a 
more glutinous or viscid quality than brown ale, which is 
made from malt which has been roasted or thoroughly 
dried. 

Ale is much lighter-colored, more brisk and sweet, than 
beer ; neither has it the bitter taste of this last. 

Porter is a kind of beer formerly called strong beer. 

Beer or porter malt is dried at a higher temperature than 
ale malt, and owes its deeper color, and also its bitter flavor, 
to this circumstance. 

ALE WIVES, n. pi. An American fish, a little larger 
than the Scotch herring. This fish is cured very nicely on 
the South Shore, Massachusetts. It requires but little broil- 
ing over lively coals. When cooked on both sides, take 
the skins carefully off, and serve it without butter. This fish 
is nicest when freshly cured. 

ALIMENT, n. Nourishment ; food. 

We take it, the great object of cookery is to pr^are food 



10 ALIMENT. • 

that will at once combine the most nourishment with the 
least unnecessary action of the stomach. Crude, hard sub- 
stances thrown into the stomach tax it to its utmost limit. 
If " there is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at 
the flood, leads on to fortune," so also there is a crisis in the 
cooking operations, which should be anxiously watched for 
by all honest cooks and philanthropic, well-disposed persons. 
That the dissolving and reducing powers of the stomach 
have a limit, the A^equent visits of disease too surely demon- 
strate. We would not advocate a fantastic regimen with 
regard to diet; man's instinct, and his superior digestive 
organs, suggest and authorize an extensive variety in the 
matter of food ; we only wish to recommend care with re- 
gard to the chemical properties of materials, and their care- 
ful preparation for the human stomach. The elegance and 
graceful lightness of French dishes is not often attained by 
us : but let us abjure France's brandy sauces, and crude 
sugar sauces, her cloying cordials, her raw oils ; and, on the 
other hand, let us refuse to eat meat half cooked, and to 
swallow soups that require the habits of a Hottentot prop- 
erly to digest. Our climate and our politics are both highly 
exciting, and therefore we should endeavor to propitiate so 
powerful an agent as this same human stomach. The effects 
of diet, both negative and positive, on the physical and men- 
tal constitution of man, are known to be very considerable. 
" Know thyself," is the sublime injunction often thrown in 
people's faces. No one can obey in full ; but he can begin 
by not despising the day of small things ; he may modify 
his temper, correct his health, when he simply thought to 
modify his food and correct some habits bearing upon the 
use of stimulants and narcotics. Let the wise, however, be a 
law unto themselves in these things. Franklin may be great 
on a bowl of gruel ; my neighbor on the hill has gorgeous 
fancies oj^ a bowl of coffee ; my friend who lives just below 



ALKANET. 11 

builds up an hannonious physical and mental constitution on 
venison, game, rich mutton, beef, and perfumed wines. 

ALKALI. This word comes from an herb, called by 
the Egyptians hali ; it is the same as glasswort, of which 
there are several varieties. The Egyptians burned this 
herb to ashes, boiled the ashes in water, and when the water 
was completely evaporated the residuum was a white salt, 
called by them salkali or alkali. 

The ashes from forests, on the clearing up of land to bring 
it under cultivation, yield a vast alkaline residuum, and after 
these ashes have been subjected to boiling and evaporation 
of its solution in iron pans or pots, they afford one principal 
alkali of commerce, known under the name of potash. The 
common domestic ley, used for the manufacture of soft-soap, 
is obtained by filtering water through wood-ashes. Hard- 
soap is made with another alkali of commerce, known under 
the name of soda ; it is obtained through the combustion 
of marine plants. Soda abounds in sea-plants, and that to 
a greater extent than potash does in vegetables of inland 
districts. The barilla of Spain, which is an impure car- 
bonate of soda, imported from Spain and the Levant, is ex- 
tracted from the Salsola sativa and vermiculata, and some 
of these plants yield nearly twenty per cent of ashes, which 
contain about two per cent of soda. (Johnson's Farmer's 
Encyclopcedia. External Nature as adapted to the Physical 
Condition of Man, by John Kidd, M. D., F. R. S.) 

Alkaline Salts are bodies formed by the union of alkalies 
with acids. Combined with fatty substances, as already 
mentioned, alkalies form soaps. 

ALKANET (Lat. anchusd). A species of bugloss. Its 
root is of a deep-red color, as the plant reaches maturity in 
autumn ; its root is also astringent. Alkanet chips, which 



12 ALMOND. 

are sold by the druggists, are used for coloring : previous 
to infusing them in any liquid you may wish to color, they 
should be picked over, and then tied in a muslin bag. It 
is a cheap, easily got at, and innoxious coloring. Confec- 
tionary is often colored tln-ough the agency of this plant. 

ALLSPICE, n. The dried, immature berry of the 
Myrtiis pimenta ; called also Jamaica pepper. ( Worcester.) 

This spice is not much used in any approved category of 
culinary operations. Mixed with stronger spices, and chief- 
ly to qualify their asperity, it is put into mangoes for 
pickling. In common cakes, it sometimes gets leave to 
come in. 

ALLSPICE-TREE, or Sweet-scented Strawberry, or 
Calycanthus. 

This delightful shrub is a native of North America. The 
scent of its fragrant brown flowers is thought to resemble 
the fruit of the strawberry. It thrives in almost any deep, 
fresh soil, but loves a shady situation. The different species 
are all varieties of the Calycanthus Jloridus, or the American 
Allspice-tree ; it is also sometimes called Carolina Allspice. 
All the varieties are propagated by layers, removing the 
layers the third year. 

ALMOND (Amygdalus, Rosacece). These ornamental 
species of almond are very popular, on account of their 
flowers. The dwarf (A. nana) is a low but beautiful shrub, 
that bears in spring exquisite double pink flowers. A. com- 
munis-plcno is the large flowering shrub. Its flowers are 
nearly white. It bears also a good hard-shell, but small 
almond. 

There are several varieties of each of these species. The 
dwarf ahnond is propagated by suckers, while other species 



ALMOND. 13 

and varieties are grafted on the common plum-tree. The 
common dwarf almond has several botanical soubriquets ; it 
is known as Am^/r/daliis pumila, Lin., Prunus japonica, Pru- 
nus Sinensis, and Cerasus ; but under any of these names, or 
any other name, it smells as sweet. Mrs. Loudon remarks, 
in her excellent book, " Gardening for Ladies," that where 
the almond is cultivated for its flowers, a background of ever- 
greens should support them, " as otherwise, from the flowers 
being produced before the leaves, half their beauty will be 
lost from the cold and naked appearance of the tree." 

ALMOND (^Amygdalus communis). The almond-tree is 
a native of the North of Africa and the mountains of Asia. 
Its cultivation was introduced into England as early as 1548. 
Its resemblance to the peach-tree in both wood and leaf is 
so like, that, joined to experiments w^hich have been made in 
cultivating the almond from seed, many botanists think the 
peach an accidental variety, produced by culture on the 
almond. 

The almond requires similar soil and treatment to that 
bestowed on the peach. It is often budded on thrifty plum 
stocks. Though some ornamental varieties grow in New 
England, our Northern regions refuse us the fruit. The 
lamented and accomplished Downing * says, that " the com- 
mon almond, the hard-shell sweet almond, and the bitter 
almond, are hardy in the latitude of New York, and will bear 
tolerable crops without care. The soft-shell sweet almond, 
or ladies' almond, will not thrive well in the open garden as 
a standard north of Philadelphia; but they succeed well 
trained to a wall or on espalier rails, in a warm situation, 
the branches being slightly protected in winter. There is 
no apparent reason wdiy the culture of the almond should 

^ Fruits and Fruit-trees of America. 
2 



14 ALMOND. 

not be pursued to a profitable extent in the warm and 
fayorable climate of some of the Southern States. Especially 
in the valley of the Ohio and Tennessee it would be likely to 
succeed admirably." 

1. The long Hard-shell Almond is hardy, has a large nut. 
Grows readily in the Middle and Western States. Its 
flowers are large, highly ornamental, of a pale rose-color. 
Kipens last of September and first of October. • 

2. Common Almond, sweet, is also hardy ; nuts hard, of 
agreeable flavor, but inferior to the preceding. Flowers 
precede the leaves. 

3. The Soft-shell Sweet Almond, or Ladies' Thin-shell, 
is the choicest variety for the dessert, and for confectionery. 
It ripens early, and it is served up in a green or fresh state 
at Parisian dinners about the middle of July. The blossoms 
and leaves come out together ; the flower has a deeper red 
than the varieties already mentioned. The shell is soft, 
easily yielding to the pressure of the fingers ; the kernel 
is sweet, and very agreeable. Mr. Downing has remarked, 
" that on the plum stock, in a favorable aspect, this almond 
succeeds, with a little care, in the Middle States." 

4. Sultana Sweet Almond. A tender-shelled almond, of 
pleasant quality. The fruit is smaller and the kernel 
narrower than the soft-shelled almond, but of equally rich 
flavor, and even thought to be the nicer by some. 

0. Pistachio Sweet Almond. This variety is not much 
known in America. The fruit resembles the pistachio in 
size and shape ; the shell is not quite as tender as the soft- 
shell almond. Of this variety Mr. Downing has observed, 
that it " is scarcely known yet in this country, but is worth 
further trial at the South." 

6. Peach Almond. This variety is considered as rather 
indifferent. It is a cross between the peach and the almond. 
Its fruit is somewhat sweet, but not unfrequently a little bit- 



ALMOND. 15 

ter, resembling, in short, the inferior kind of peaches. This 
variety requires, to ripen perfectly, a Southern latitude. 

7. The Bitter Almond. This species is distinguished for 
its bitter kernel. It has two varieties, one with a hard and 
one with a brittle shell. The leaves have a darker green 
than most of the sweet-fruited discover, and are also longer ; 
the blossoms are also large, and pale in color. 

The kernel of the sweet almond has its familiar uses, in 
the lady's houdoir, in the hands of the confectioner, and the 
simple house cook. The bitter almond plays a part almost 
as varied and busy, for besides lending aid to the cook 
and confectioner, it also is an auxiliary of medicine, and, 
gliding into the chemist's crucible, yields him one of the most 
virulent of all poisons, prussic acid. Both the sweet and 
bitter almond afford an oil. Let us now proceed to see in 
how many good things this valuable nut is found as a very 
principal help and ingredient ; observing beforehand, that 
the soft-shell sweet almond, or ladies' almond, is the favorite 
nut for the table, and for fancy dishes for dessert. It is also 
better economy to buy these when to be used for the last- 
mentioned purposes, a pound of this variety yielding about 
half a pound when shelled ; of course the thicker-shelled 
yield less. 

Almond Blancmange. 

Take two ounces of isinglass and one quart of new milk, 
blanch one half-pound of almonds, and pound them very 
fine in a mortar, with a little rose-water, and stir them in 
carefully. Strain it, and sweeten it to your taste. Let it be 
milk-warm when you put it into your mould. 

Almond Candy. 

Take two quarts of West India molasses, and stir into it 
one pound of brown sugar ; put this molasses thus prepared 



16 ALMOND. 

into a porcelain-lined kettle, and set it over a moderate fire, 
and let it boil about three hours. Have ready three pounds 
of blanched almonds, cut into large pieces, and just before 
taking it up, stir in a piece of fresh butter about the size of a 
hen's egg ; then put in the almonds. You may omit the 
butter if you choose, hanging your faith on the oil of the 
almonds. If you wish to have part of your candy light- 
colored, separate some, and cut some of your almonds very 
fine, and while it is yet warm pull the candy, (having previ- 
ously floured or buttered your hands,) at arm's length, till it 
is light yellow, or straw-color. Twist this, and cut it in 
sticks. Butter flat pans for that which is not to be Avorked, 
and pour the candy into them. 

In making candy, be always careful not to have too hot a 
fire, as molasses is easily burned. 

Almond Cake. 

Take an ounce of shelled bitter almonds and an ounce of 
shelled sweet almonds ; blanch them, and lay them on a dry 
linen cloth in the sun. Take a pound of dry, hard loaf- 
sugar, of the best quality, and powder it and sift it. Take 
ten newly laid eggs, and break them on the sugar. Wipe 
the almonds perfectly dry ; pound them in a stone or marble 
mortar to a smooth paste, adding a little rose-water wdiile 
pounding them to prevent their oiling. Plave ready seven 
ounces of dried and sifted flour. 

Beat the eggs and sugar till they are very light. Stir in 
the almond very hard, and just before you put the cake into 
the oven, stir in the flour quite lightly. Put this mixture 
into thin-bottomed pans, that the heat may be on the bottom 
of the pan rather than the top. The oven should be quick. 
Butter your pans with good butter. 

This cake is frequently iced. To do this, take the whites 
of three eggs, and as much white powdered sugar as will 



ALMOND. 17 

make a thick paste, about twenty-five spoonfuls if the eggs 
are large. Flavor with a few drops of fresh lemon-juice. 
Put it on the cake while it is warm (but not hot) from the 
oven. 

Almond Cheesecakes. 

There are a variety of ways of making these cakes. Some 
persons beat eggs and stir them into boiling milk till it makes 
a curd, and add sugar and cream and spice and almonds and 
raisins to this curd ; and others make this curd with rennet, 
adding such ingredients as are mentioned above. Another 
good way is the following : — 

Take a quarter of a pound of blanched sweet almonds ; 
let them cool ; pound them in rose-water in a marble or 
stone mortar. Take the same quantity of sugar, and the 
yolks of four eggs. Beat this mixture till it is very light. 
Bake it in rich puff-paste. 

Almond Cream. 
"Weigh a pound of soft-shelled almonds in the shell ; 
blanch them, and pound them with a little rose-water, which 
indeed should always, when practicable, be used, as before 
mentioned, as it prevents the almonds from oiling. Take a 
quart of cream, and stir in half a pound of powdered loaf- 
sugar. Freeze it. 

Almond Custard. 

Take one pint of cream ; blanch and beat a quarter of a 
pound of almonds with two spoonfuls of rose-water ; add the 
yolks of four eggs ; sweeten to your taste. You can boil 
this in a porcelain kettle, stirring it one way over the fire, or 
you can boil it in a tin custard-pail, or bake it in small china 
custard-cups. 

This custard is also nice frozen ; in which case it is put 
into the freezer without being subjected to any heat. 



18 ALMOND. 

Almond Flummery. 

Take two large calves' feet, and boil them in two quarts of 
water till the meat falls in rags from the bones ; then strain 
it off, and put to the clear jelly half a pint of thick cream ; 
then take two ounces of sweet almonds and an ounce of bitter 
almonds, blanched and well beaten together, and stir them 
in. Put the ingredients thus prepared into a porcelain pre- 
serving-kettle, and let it come to a boil ; then strain it off, 
and when it is warm as milk, put it into cups or glasses. 

Almond Macaroons. 
Take one pound of the best white powdered sugar, sift it ; 
beat in a stone or marble mortar one pound of blanched 
sweet almonds, adding a few drops of rose-water as you beat 
them ; mix them into a paste with the whites of six eggs, 
well beaten. Make them into forms, by taking a little of the 
paste about the size of a cherry into the palm of your hand, 
with a little flour. Butter some sheets of white paper, drop 
the macaroons on it, leaving a little interval between each 
for them to spread. Bake them quickly, strewing a little 
white powdered sugar over them from a fine sieve just 
before putting them into the oven. Try to have them a 
delicate color. 

Almond Paste. 

This is a grateful and cooling paste, highly recommended 
for the hands. 

Take six pounds of fresh almonds, blanch, and beat them 
in a stone or marble mortar with a sufficient quantity of 
rose-water, added gradually, to make a thick paste ; add to 
this a pound of clear, fresh-strained honey, and mix the 
whole thoroughly and smoothly. Put it in small china pots, 
or wide-mouthed glass bottles, with a little rose-water on tlie 
top of each bottle. Tie them closely. 



ALMOND. 19 

Almond Pudding. 
Take one pound of sifted sugar, one half-pound of butter, 
and work them together. Beat the yolks of twelve eggs ; 
have ready one half-pound of blanched almonds, beaten 
smoothly, with a few drops of rose-water, the strained juice 
of three large fresh lemons, and the grate of one. Stir the 
egg and the almonds into the butter gradually and alter- 
nately, putting the lemon juice and peel in last. Bake in 
a rich paste, in small pie-plates. 

Almond Soup. 

This soup is made either from calves' feet, a knuckle or 
breast of veal, a scrag of mutton, or cold fowl, and never 
from any of the darker, heavier meats, as its principal beauty 
is its delicate pearl-color. For the same reason none of the 
darker spices are to be used, and the soup should be boiled 
in a porcelain-lined kettle, and cooled, in its progressive steps, 
in china or porcelain dishes. 

If you make your soup of calves' feet, take four feet, 
nicely scraped, but not skinned, and put them into your 
kettle with a few blades of mace. Pour over them three 
quarts of cold water. Cover the kettle, and put it over a 
moderate fire, where it may boil slowly. When it comes to 
a quick boil, throw in a little table-salt, and remove the 
kettle to a position where it may simmer. Soups require in 
their early stages a sufficient degree of heat to bring to the 
surface the scum ; and as salt tends to throw tliis together, 
it is well to put the salt in as soon as the soup boils. 

Skim the soup, and let it be subjected to a steady simmer 
till the meat has fallen in rags from the bone. Then strain 
it into an earthen pan ; when it is cold, remove the fat from 
the top, and return the stock to the kettle ; as soon as it is 
melted, have ready three quarters of a pound of blanched 
almonds, that have been pounded smoothly in a stone mor- 



20 ALMOND. 

tar, with a few drops of rose-water added to them, from 
time to time, during the process of pounding. Some are of 
opinion, that a few bitter almonds added to the sweet improve 
the flavor of the soup. Boil them a quarter of an hour in 
the soup. 

Boil a pint of cream a few minutes before taking up the 
soup, and stir it in just before sending it to the table. 

If you make your soup of mutton and veal, omit the cream 
and mace, and cut up the peel of a lemon in thin slices, and 
just before sending the soup to the table add a little of the 
strained juice of the lemon. 

Soups of an elaborate kind should be made early in the 
morning, or partially prepared the day before. Veal, fish, 
and vegetable soups are, however, best when freshly made. 

Besides these numerous happy appearances, the almond is 
with us again in the popular Antique Oil, used now so com- 
monly for the hair. This oil is made of equal proportions 
of the oil of sweet almonds and the best olive-oil, colored 
with alkanet chips, tied in a muslin bag, scenting the mixed 
oils with such perfumes as may be most grateful or desirable. 
The oils, after being mixed, should stand for a few days in 
some warm place to facilitate the coloring, and, by a gentle 
infusion, have the scented essence thoroughly incorporated. 
Do not, however, put in the essence till a short time before 
bottling, as the heat would dissipate the perfume. Put it 
into glass bottles, and cork it well, having previously passed 
it through a strainer. 

Almonds, blanched and cut in large pieces, are often placed 
on the top of sponge and other light cakes just before they 
are sent to the oven. Almond icing is also put over this 
class of cakes. As to almond tarts, colored with the juice 
of spinach and less innocent matters, the less that is said of. 
them, the better for all parties concerned. 



ALTHEA FRUTEX. 21 

ALOES. The medicinal juice is extracted from the 
common aloes-tree, which has no relation to the costly tree 
of tlic East, whose spicy virtues are alluded to by both 
David and Solomon, nor yet to the American Aloe, or 
Agave. 

The American Aloe is of the Amaiyllis tribe, but the true 
Aloe of the Day-lily tribe. 

The true Aloe is highly purgative, but the American Aloe 
abounds in mild starchy properties; the American Aloe 
sends up a gigantic flower-stem, from which issue branches 
of cup-shaped flowers, but each plant flowers but once, while 
the true Aloe flowers every year. 

The drug is extracted from the pulp of the leaves of 
several species. The Aloe Socotrina, so called from the 
island of Socotra, is now hardly to be had ; that which is 
sold for Socotrine being a mixture of Barbadoes and Cape 
aloes. 

Aloes is a very strong cathartic. As a veterinary medi- 
cine it is often very efficacious ; but though a valuable liorse 
medicine, it is rarely given to other domestic animals. 
Even to the horse it must be administered with care. For 
purging a horse, the usual dose is from four to eight or ten 
drachms ; but, except in certain diseases, more than eight 
should never be given even to the strongest horse, and six 
or seven drachms are a sufficient dose for a family horse. 

It may be given in the solid or liquid state ; but the best 
method of administering it is to powder it, and mix it up 
with flour and water, or honey, or some simple, to a stiff 
paste, and placing it at the root of the roof of the horse's 
tongue, he swallows it without difficulty. (See Johnson's 
Farmer's Encyclopasdia.) 

ALTHEA FRUTEX, or ROSE OF SHARON, is 
a hardy shrub, growing very common in Virginia, and easily 



22 ALUM. 

cultivated in most common garden soils. Some of the 
varieties are very beautiful, and any are desirable for a 
flower-garden. It can be propagated from seed, or by 
cuttings and layers. Seeds are thought to produce the best 
plants. 

ALCJM (Lat. Aluynen). A mineral or earthy salt of an 
acid taste. It is a sulphate of alumina, combined usually 
with a sulphate of potash. ( Worcester.^ 

This mineral salt contains, according to chemical results, 
in different proportions, sulphuric acid, alumina, potash, and 
water. Its cleansing qualities often tend to dissipate inflam- 
matory sores and ulcers which have already reached the crisis. 
It is rendered milder by burning a bit on a shovel or iron 
plate, and reducing it to a smooth powder. 

Alum Lotion, or water impregnated with alum, is some- 
times, among other minerals and earths, used by florists in 
watering the Hydrangea, to change the pink flowers to blue. 
It does not always succeed. (Mrs. Loudon's Gardening for 
Ladies.) 

Alum Whey is made by mixing half a pound of powdered 
alum with one pint of millv. Strain, and sweeten it with 
white sugar, and add a little nutmeg. It is efficacious some- 
times in diarrhoea, and in cases of colic. 

Alum is much used in dyeing processes. A good domes- 
tic dye, for homely purposes, is made by boiling sugar-lpaf 
paper with vinegar in an iron vessel, and fixing the color 
with alum. This liquid is carefully strained before any cloth 
is boiled in it, and the cloth to be dyed should be wet. 

Alum is sometimes put into rinsing- water in washing cali- 
coes where green and yellow colors predominate. 

A very little alum is frequently put into vinegar for pickles, 
to harden them and improve their color. 



AMMONIAC. 23 

ALYSSUM {Cruciferce). Lat. for Iladivort. Herba- 
ceous plants, both annual and perennial, chiefly natives of 
Europe. Some varieties are grown on rock- work. The 
Sweet Aljssum should be grown where bees are kept. 

AMMONIA, OR VOLATILE ALKALI. This gaseous 
substance consists of hydrogen and azote only. It acquired 
its name from its being prepared in the East, from camels' 
excrement, nigh a temple consecrated to Jupiter Ammon. 

This alkali is very extensively diffused, and to its presence 
in liquid manures and organic substances is mainly owdng 
their efficacy as manures. 

In places overcharged with animal life, this gas exists to 
an extent injurious to human life. 

AMMONIAC, n. A gum-resin ; the name of two drugs, 
gum ammoniac, a concrete juice brought from the East, and 
sal ammoniac, a compound of muriatic acid and ammonia, 
popularly called hartshorn. ( Worcester.^ 

Sal ammoniac is obtained by destructive distillation of 
bones ; a process by which, on the application of heat, the 
substance of the bone is dissolved into its simple elements, 
from which new compounds are formed. Some of these 
escape in the form of vapor or gas, while the fixed prin- 
ciples remain in the retort. 

The article used in smelling-bottles, and called salt of 
hartshorn, and volatile salts, is a carbonate of ammonia ; it is 
obtained from the horn of the hart, or from any kind of bone. 
Spirit of hartshorn, called by the apothecaries liquid ammo- 
nia, is frequently used to cleanse jewelry, applying it with a 
soft, clean rag, and clearing and polishing it with other dry 
rags and bits of silk. Stains are often removed by it from 
silks, gloves, carpets, and w'orsted materials. As it is very 
volatile, but a little should be exposed at one time to 
the air. 



24 ANCHOVY. 

A friend has vouched for the followmg recipe for the 
cure of warts. . Dissolve in an ounce vial, filled with soft 
water, as much sal ammoniac as it will hold, and wash the 
warts several times daily. This process persisted in will not 
fail to remove these excrescences. 

Water absorbs this gas instantaneously, and in great pro- 
portions, taking up more than five hundred times its own 
bulk ; and when water is so charged, we have the pungent 
liquid already mentioned as called by the druggists liquid 
ammonia, and known also as spirit of sal ammoniac, or 
spirit of hartshorn. 

In painting roses, or wherever bright carmine tints are 
required, a few drops of liquid ammonia mixed with the 
paint heighten the color. Indeed, the salts of ammonia, and 
especially the muriate and carbonate, are substances of large 
commercial traffic, and are much used in the arts and in 
medicine. 

Spirit of hartshorn, very much diluted, is sometimes used 
for dressing the hair. 

AMYLACEOUS, a. Applied to substances which contain 
starchy properties. Arrowroot, tapioca, salop, and sago, all 
have large proportions of fecula or starch. Light dishes for 
dessert, and nutritious ones for invalids, are made from these 
articles. See directions under their respective heads. 

ANCHOVY. A little sea-fish, from which sauces are 
made to accompany larger fish. Anchovies are known to be 
fresh by the smell and fresh color of the fish. The red 
color of anchovy liquor is given to it by artificial means, 
often by cochineal, and consequently is not desirable. 

Anchovy Toasts. 
Take slices of bread, and fry them in fresh butter ; have 
ready some fresh anchovies, that have been boned, pounded 



ANNOTTO. 25 

in a mortar, and the liquor pressed from them ; mix a little 
butter with them, and spread them on the bread, putting 
some whole bits of anchovy on top, or garnish with slices of 
hard-boiled egg. Serve very hot. 

Anchovy Catchup. 
Take twenty-four anchovies, chop them, bone and all ; 
put to them one handful of scraped horseradish, four blades 
of mace, ten shallots or small onions, one quart of white 
wine, one i:>int of water, one fresh lemon cut in slices, one 
half-gill of anchovy liquor, one gill of claret, twelve cloves, 
twelve peppercorns ; feoil them together till reduced to a 
quart. Strain and bottle it for use. Two teaspoonfuls will 
flavor one pound of melted butter. 

ANISE (Lat. Pimpinella anisuni). A kitchen herb; a 
species of apium or parsley. It has large aromatic seeds, 
which are used for flavoring soups. These seeds are dis- 
tilled with brandy, sweetened with sugar, and filtered for 
anisette liqueurs. 

One pound of anise-seed yields by distillation two drachms 
of oil. Dropped on a lump of loaf-sugar, from two to ten 
drops, it is found to be stimulating, to expel wind and induce 
perspiration. This oil is said to be poisonous to pigeons, if 
rubbed on their bills or heads. 

ANNOTTO (written also Annotta, Arnotto, and Aronetta). 
Annotto is sometimes called Bocou. It is a soft substance 
prepared from the seeds of the Bixa orellana, a shrub of 
Tropical America, and used for dyeing. Combined with the 
paste is a resin, so that some alkali, such as soft-soap or 
weak ley, is used to faciUtate the solution of the dye. 

For dyeing a few yards of any material, a little of the 
paste can be tied in a muslin bag ; and, having previously 
3 



26 ANTHRACITE. 

soaked the material in cold water, wring it out dry, and pull 
it apart, and boil it in the ley with the coloring bag. 

The nicer kinds of annotto are of a bright color, yield to 
the pressure, and dissolve in water more readily than that 
which is usually to be had of the druggists. The English 
color their cheeses with the purer sorts of annotto. An 
ounce is sufficient to color twenty cheeses of ten or twelve 
pounds each. Cheeses are not so universally colored in 
America. 

ANTS. Mrs. Loudon remarks (Gardening for Ladies), 
that " it has been found that the liquor discharged by ants is 
very acid and acrid ; the idea presented itself that alkalies 
would be disagreeable to them ; and experience proves this 
so far to be the case, that a circle of chalk or lime laid round 
any plant will effectually prevent the ants from touching it." 
Similar measures and great cleanliness will keep them out 
of closets. 

ANTHRACITE. A hard mineral coal. Lehigh, Schuyl- 
kill, and Rhode Island coal come under this head. It is 
heavier, less black, and not so easily ignited as bituminous 
coal ; it emits no smoke, and burns slowly with a white flame, 
but once excited to flame, and burned in large masses, it 
throws out great heat, and is not so quickly exhausted as 
bituminous coal. It is now used quite extensively in Ameri- 
ca, both for domestic and other purposes. 

In making fires for the grate, the best way is to lay a thin 
f foundation with hard coal, selecting the smaller pieces from 
the scuttle ; put bright kitchen coals on this basis, seeing that 
the coals are unmixed with ashes ; over these coals put some 
pieces of charcoal, filling up the crevices with small bits of 
anthracite ; when this has ignited, put on the last heap of 
anthracite, the smaller lumps first, and set the blower firmly 



APPLE. 27 

on. When forked flames strike up through the mass to the 
surface, you may safely take the blower off. 

The ashes from anthracite coal will make neither soap 
nor ley. 

ANTISEPTICS, n. Substances which prevent or check 
putrefaction (Worcester). Some of the most powerful of 
these preservative agents are alcohol, oils, acids, camphor, 
charcoal, chlorine, tannin, resins, sugar, bitumen, and salts of 
different kinds. 

The mode by which they resist and retard decay has never 
been fully explained. In some cases, as in leather, they 
seem to combine with the material to be preserved, and 
probably in other cases they absorb the decomposing gases 
and agents. 

Lumps of charcoal put about birds and meat will tend to 
keep them sweet, but will hardly restore what is already 
tainted. 

For the preservation of vegetable and animal substances, 
sugar, alcohol, salt, acetic acid or vinegar, and pyroligneous 
acids are used ; but antiseptics for the preservation of sci- 
entific specimens and labors are resinous and bituminous 
varnishes, alum, alcohol, oil of turpentine, and corrosive 
sublimate. 

APPLE {Pyrus Malus), It is a curious fact, that all our 
apples have originated from a species of crab which is native 
to Europe, and not from our native crabs. The seeds of the 
species brought by the European colonists to America have, 
through the influences of culture, soil, and climate, succeeded 
in giving us the finest apple in the world. Mr. DoAvning 
has remarked, that the apple-tree is " most perfectly natural- 
ized in America, and in the northern and middle portions of 
the United States succeeds as well, or, as we believe, better 



28 APPLE. 

than in any part of the world. The most celebrated apples 
of Germany and the North of Europe are not superior to 
many of the varieties originated here ; and the American 
or Newtown Pippin is now pretty generally admitted to 
be the finest apple in the world. No better proof of the 
perfect adaptation of our soil and climate to this tree can 
be desired, than the seemingly spontaneous production of 
such varieties as this, the Baldwin, the Spitzenburg, or the 
Swaar, — all fruits of delicious flavor and great beauty of 
appearance." 

Though the apple will live in almost any soil and situation, 
it thrives best in strong loamy soils, that are rather heavy 
than light and sandy. Clayey loams, if well drained, are 
favorable fruit soils. There are some exceptions to this soil ; 
the Yellow Belle-Fleur is thought finer to be grown on a 
sandy soil ; and, to quote the same excellent authority above 
mentioned, " the Newtown Pippin will only arrive at per- 
fection in a strong loam." But there are exceptions to all 
rules ; and the distinguished author adds, " that calcareous 
soils, of whatever texture, are better than soils of the same 
quality where no limestone is present." 

Sandy soils, whose subsoil is also of too sandy a character, 
are improved by top-dressing and manures. Top-dressings 
of clay and heavy bog-earth, river-mud, and similar matters, 
are recommended by the best cultivators as more lasting 
manures, and calculated to work up a firmer, better soil, than 
the common stable-manures. 

Every fruit garden, where the soil is not naturally good, 
requires to be ploughed, or trenched two spades in depth ; 
and it is better to do this one season beforehand, that is, 
before setting out seedlings. 

The apple-tree has many enemies in the insect world, that 
the cultivator must constantly watch, and endeavor to over- 
reach. 



APPLE. 29 

The Apple-tree Borer is among the most mischievous of 
these insects. In June it assumes the form of a medium- 
sized beetle, flying about in the night, and in the day resting 
and feeding on the leaves of the trees ; in this month, and in 
July and August, she begins to lay eggs upon the bark of 
the tree, and almost always near the ground. Her progeny 
are whitish fleshy grubs, wliich eat through the bark, and 
remain there the first winter ; the following season it ascends 
some twelve or fifteen inches into the tree, throwing out dust, 
by which it is usually detected. The third year it leaves 
the tree, assuming the beetle form (^Saperdahivittati). After 
it has once penetrated the tree, it must be destroyed by 
piercing it with some bit of wire or sharp instrument, or by 
applying the knife or chisel. We have seen them extracted 
in a perfect state by a lady with a simple hair-pin. 

The be&t of all modes for getting rid of these and other 
insects are those which tend to keep the tree and soil, and 
even the atmosphere, in an ungrateful, inhospitable attitude 
towards them. 

In June, small bonfires destroy the beetle which is the 
future borer, by thousands. They should be placed in dif- 
ferent parts of the orchard ; a few shavings or a little tow, 
a pitch-pine knot, or a few handfuls of any dry, combustible 
matter, will answer the purpose. In June also, the bark of 
the tree should be scraped, and be bathed with various 
washes. A wash made of soap-suds and whale-oil soap, in 
the proportion of two pounds of the soap to fifteen gallons of 
water, is known to be beneficial. It is frequently apphed 
with a syringe. 

Water in which refuse tobacco-leaves, wormwood, and 
burdock have been steeped, is also, if made into a strong de- 
coction, efficacious. 

A solution of potash, of about a pound to two gallons of 
water, is used with advantage. 
3* 



30 APPLE. 

When lime is used, it should always be in solution with 
something else, as it binds the bark of the tree, and prevents 
the dews, air, and rains exerting their influence. 

A little salt placed in a circle round the tree, if repeated 
only in small quantities, is fatal to many insects, and, with 
the precaution necessary for using so powerful an agent, not 
injurious to the tree. Hen-manure, ashes, sulphur, soot, 
snuff, and any strong-smelling substances, may be placed 
round the tree. Fish oil and offal is disagreeable to many 
insects. 

Bottles, left uncorked, and half filled with some sweet 
preparation, and tied upon the branches of trees, are an ex- 
cellent trap for winged insects which pierce the blossom and 
the fruit. 

Birds destroy great numbers of insects, and guns should 
never be fired off in orchards and gardens. 

Belts or bandages of canvas are tied round apple and 
other trees, and covered with tar, mixed with train oil, to 
keep it moist. These belts, if kept in a fresh state, will keep 
the female of the cankerworm from ascending the tree to 
lay her eggs. Many persons apply the bandage in the 
fall in October, and keep it on till late in the spring. 

Old India-rubber, subjected to great heat in an iron pot, 
forms an excellent substance for smearing the bandages ; it 
is highly adhesive, and, effectually resisting the atmosphere, 
it seldom requires to be renewed. 

Another practice which is much recommended by culti- 
vators is to dig round the tree, and bury rock-weed that 
has grown by the sea-shore, throwing the earth over the 
weed, and treading it down lightly, or passing the roller 
over it. 

Always have a space immediately round the trees kept 
perfectly free from weeds, so that insects can be more readily 
discovered. 



APPLE. 31 

Gathering and Keeping the Apple. 

Apples should be gathered in dry weather, and those 
which are to be stored for whiter use plucked by the hand. 
Delay gathermg the fruit till there is serious apprehension 
of frost. The most approved way then is to place the fruit 
immediately into tight, dry flour-barrels, packing it closely, 
and heading it up quite full, to prevent bursting in rolling. 
They are then placed in some shady exposure, some shed 
open to the air, or under the trees, protected by boards 
placed under and over the barrels, or at the north side of 
the building, the barrels being similarly protected by boards 5 
in such places they remain a few weeks, or till extreme 
cold weather, when they are carefully transferred to a dry, 
cool cellar, where air can be occasionally let in from the 
outer atmosphere on days not too cold. 

The barrels should be placed on their side, and kept 
as dark as possible. The colder apples can be preserved 
throughout the winter without reaching the freezing point, 
the better for winter fruit. Packed in dry, close barrels, 
apples will bear a frost nearly twelve degrees below freezing 
temperature. 

Before entering upon the uses of the apple, we would 
advise every housekeeper to provide herself with a tin apple- 
corer, a cheap and useful article for extracting the cores of 
apples, and also with a tin apple-roaster, that can be put be- 
fore the fire. 

Apple Batter. 

Take twelve juicy apples, slice them thin, and stir them 
into a batter prepared thus. Take six eggs, beat them quite 
light ; stir them, with flour enough to make a batter a little 
thicker than pound cake, into a pint of rich milk ; stir them 
in alternately with the fruit, and just before you put it into 
the oven, stir in a little melted butter. Bake in a deep dish. 



32 APPLE. 

Serve it with sugar, butter, and nutmeg, or with sugar and 
cream. 

Apple Butter. 

This is often made and sold by the barrel. It is made 
bj slicing and paring sweet apples, and boiling them in new 
cider till they have a smooth, thick consistency. 

Apples Dried. 

When small quantities are prepared, it is usual to pare, 
quarter, and core them by hand, and dry them in the sun. 
Where they are intended for large market sales, they are 
pared and quartered by machinery, and dried slowly in 
ovens. Buy those which look clean. 

In cooking dried apples they should be allowed to simmer 
slowly some time before the sugar is added. Flavor dried 
apple-sauce with a few drops of fresh lemon-juice and the 
grate of the peel. Always pick over dried apples, and, if 
necessary, wash them through one or two basins of water ; 
but soaked too long, they are insipid, leathery, and unhealthy, 
if the same water is not used to stew them in. 

Apple Dumpling. 

Take a quart of sifted flour and half a pound of sweet 
lard or butter, and a salt-spoon of salt. Put to the flour 
enough water to make a tender paste ; roll it out, and work 
in the butter or lard as you would paste. Cut the paste into 
circular bits, about the size of a small plate, and put a cup- 
ful of sliced apples into each piece. Throw them into boil- 
ing water, and boil them not quite half an hour. Serve 
them with butter, sugar, and nutmeg, or a made sweet sauce. 

Apple Jelly. 

Both the Scarlet and Yellow Siberian Crabs make an 
agreeable jelly ; the Yellow Belle-Fleur is also a desirable 



APPLE. 33 

fruit for this purpose. An over-ripe or mawkishly-sweet 
apple is not suitable for jellies. Those w^hich are tender, 
juicy, and have a sub-acid taste, are best for the making 
of jelly. 

Wipe your apples, and cut from them the eye and stem ; 
then slice them, and put them into a stone jar. Put the jar 
into a pot of water, and let them boil till the apple is tender. 
Take them out carefully, and put them into a deep flannel or 
linen bag. To every pint of juice put a pound of powdered 
white sugar ; let it dissolve ; put it into a porcelain-lined ket- 
tle over the fire, and let it come to a boil. Pour it while 
warm into small glasses, and tie them down with brandied 
papers. 

Apple IMarmalade. 

Take four pounds of sugar, put them mto a preserving- 
kettle, and throw on to it not quite a quart of water ; stir it 
till dissolved ; put it over the fire ; as it boils up, throw in a 
cupful of cold water. Have ready four pounds of sliced 
apple. Choose for marmalade a nice dessert apple, of rather 
acid flavor and fine-grained flesh. Let it boil quite slowly 
till the apple breaks up, and can be stirred into a smooth, 
even appearance ; afterward let it boil quickly, to increase 
the evaporation of the liquid, and, just before taking it up, 
add a few drops of lemon-juice. Put it into china or earthen 
jars, and paste it or tie it down closely. 

Apple marmalade is often put into moulds. If not to be 
used immediately, it must be brandied, papered, and tied up 
very closely, and kept in a cool, dry place. Wet the mould 
in hot water before attempting to turn it out. 

Apples Meringued. 

Select handsome Pippins or Greenings of the same size, 
and, w^ith the aid of the apple-corer, pare and core them 



34 APPLE. 

whole. Put them into the oven with a little water, in a 
deep earthen dish. Let them plump, but not break. Take 
them out into a flat dish, and, when cold, fill the centre of 
each apple with jelly. Make an icing with the whites of 
eggs thickened with powdered loaf-sugar, and flavored with 
lemon-juice, and put it on to each apple in as handsome 
a form as possible, wetting the knife you use with cold 
water as you place it on. Sift a little white sugar over 
them, and place them in a moderate , oven, with the door 
open ; allow them to remain there but a few seconds, as 
the jelly might run out, and spoil the appearance of the 
whole. 

Apple Pancakes or Fritters. 

These are frequently made by adding a little more flour 
than is given to a common pancake batter, and stirring in 
slices of uncooked apple. The following is a little richer. 
Take some of the finest-flavored dessert apples, pare them, 
and cut them into thin slices, put them into a small dish, add 
to them a little brandy, some white wine, a small grated 
nutmeg, and cover them with powdered loaf-sugar ; let them 
stand some hours. Prepare a batter, by taking half a pound 
of sifted flour, a salt-spoon of salt, the yolks of three eggs 
beaten very lightly, a little melted butter, and as much 
water as will make a thin batter. Drain the apples, and 
put them into the batter, — one large spoonful of batter and 
a slice of apple for each fritter. Fry them quickly in hot 
fat, drain them on a sieve, and put them into a warm dish, 
sifting white sugar on to them, and glazing them as you lay 
them in. 

Apple Pie. 

Select some of the finest Pippins or Belle-Fleur apples, 
pare and core and halve them ; sift a little powdered sugar 



APPLE. 35 

over them. Have ready a rich sirup, made of four pounds 
of loaf-sugar broken up, two pints of pure water and a wine- 
glass of rose-water, and the white of an egg. Let the sugar 
dissolve before you put the kettle over the fire, and reserve 
a cup of the w^ater to be put in at the first boii up, when it 
is to be carefully skimmed ; at the second boiling, put in the 
rose-water, and take off the kettle, l^ut it away to get cold 
into a deep earthen dish. 

Cover the bottom of a preserving-kettle with apples, and 
pour enough sirup on to cover them, put a stick of cinna- 
mon in, and boil them till tender and transparent, but do not 
allow them to break. Take them out carefully, on a flat 
dish, with their sirup, and proceed in the same w^ay till you 
have preserved your whole fruit. Save a little of the 
sirup. 

Make a rich pie-paste, and cover the bottom of the plate 
intended for your pie with a thin piece of the paste ; put 
your apple in, piling it up, so as to give a plumpness to 
the pie. Cover with a rich paste, ornamenting the sides 
with a paste-cutter. When the pies are baked, take a knife, 
and carefully lift up the top paste ; if they have cooked dry, 
take a small spoon, and put in some of the sirup you saved. 
Bake the pie a very light color. 

Apple Sauce. 

Take twelve large, rich apples of an acid quality, pare 
and core them, and put them into a porcelain-lined kettle or 
saucepan with four or five spoonfuls of water. Boil them till 
they are perfectly tender ; take them off, and stir in a small 
piece of fresh butter, one pound of white powdered sugar, 
and a little pounded orange-peel. Apple prepared in this 
way, with the same quantity of sugar, a quarter of a pound 
of melted butter, the juice of three lemons and the grate of 
one, and the yolk of eight eggs, mixed well together, and a 



36 APPLES OF LOVE. 

little sugar sifted from a fine sieve after it is all beaten 
lightly and well mixed, and baked in a pufF-paste, makes 
a very nice pudding. 

Apple sauce to be eaten with meat should have much less 
sugar. 

Apple or Carolina Snowballs. 

Take the core out of as many large Pippins as you may 
wish to make snowballs, and fill the centres of the apples 
with orange and lemon peel cut very fine ; put two spoonfuls 
of rice in a cloth which will cover the apple, putting the rice 
all around the apple. Tie the cloth, and boil them an hour. 
Make a sweet, rich sauce of butter, wine, and loaf-sugar to 
eat with them. 

Apple Tea or Water. 

Slice large Pippins into thin bits, and cut a little of the 
peel of a fresh lemon on to them, put them into a pitcher, 
and pour over them some boiling water. Let it stand, cov- 
ered closely, near the fire, for several hours. Pour it into 
glasses, and sweeten it with loaf-sugar. It is a grateful and 
coolins:; drink for invalids. 

Apples Baked. 

Apples baked in a tin roaster, with a little West India 
molasses or sugar-house sirup poured over them, and eaten 
with cream or rich milk, are very nice. A rich-flavored, 
sweet apple is to be preferred for this dish. 

APPLES OF LOVE (Foma amoris, Tomato). This 
vegetable has been for the last twenty years very generally 
cultivated in America. It was introduced from France. 
There are several varieties. For the culture of Tomato, see 
Art of Gardening ; and for cooking, see receipts under the 
respective heads. 



APRICOT. 37 

APRICOT (Armeniaca vulgaris). This early fruit ia 
often nipped by frost, and if it escapes tliis blight its blos- 
soms are pierced by insects. In Virginia I have seen farm- 
ers keep the snow round the trunk of the tree as long as 
possible, to retard premature blossoming. Nets are some- 
times thrown over the tree, as a partial protection from the 
attacks of flies and wasps. Flambeaus of tar and tow stuck 
into the earth and ignited at night will destroy many of these 
insects. 

The apricot thrives best budded on the plum (July is the 
most desirable month for budding it), being more healthy 
than when growing from its own root ; and it can also adapt 
itself to a stronger soil when so budded, which also leads to 
healthy habits. 

Apricots in Brandy 

Gather apricots from the tree (If possible) not too ripe. 
Rub them with a coarse towel. Prepare a sirup with loaf- 
sugar of not more than half the weight of the apricots, and 
water enough to dissolve it. After the sirup is prepared, 
put the fruit in carefully, and let it simmer a few moments 
only ; take the fruit out, and lay it on flat dishes to cool. 
Boil and skim the sirup till it is quite thick and rich. Put 
the apricots, when cold, into white earthen preserve-jars, 
and pour over them equal quantities of the sirup and 
French brandy. Tie the jars with bladder-skin, or paste 
the paper on. 

J^RicoT Ice-cream. 

Peel and stone the fruit, and pound it, with white sugar, 
to a smooth mass. Beat it up hghtly, or pass it through a 
sieve. Add sweetened whipt-cream and a little melted isin- 
glass. Beat the whole with a wooden spoon, over ice, till 
the whole is intimately blended. Put it into the mould, and 
freeze it. 

4 



38 AROMATIC nERBS. 

Apricot Jam. 
Peel and stone the apricots ; if they are dry, put them 
into an earthen pan, and throw a very little boiling water 
over them. Beat to a pulp, and take an equal quantity 
of pounded or powdered loaf-sugar and fruit, and boil 
them hard in the preserving kettle about twenty minutes. 
You may blanch some of the kernels of the apricot, and put 
them on the top of the jars before you lay the brandy-paper 
over. Tie closely. This jam makes nice tarts. In making 
it, be careful that it does not stick to the bottom of the kettle. 
It must be stirred often. 

Apricot Preserve. 

Choose apricots, for preserving, that are not overripe. 
This fruit too ripe is insipid, mealy, and unfit to make a 
handsome preserve. 

Stone and pare the apricots, keeping them as whole as 
possible ; lay them, hollow side up, on a large flat dish, sift 
white powdered sugar over them, and keep them in a cool 
place for the night. Put a pound of sugar to a pound of 
fruit, and simmer them slowly till the fruit looks transparent. 
Do not put too many at once into the preserving pan. Put 
them into glass jars, and cover closely. You may blanch 
some of the kernels, and flavor with them. Apricots are 
sometimes preserved in apple jelly. 

Where apricots are plenty, they are dried in the same 
way as apples; and a delicious liqueur is made from the 
juice of the fruit. 

AROMATIC POT AND SWEET HERBS. The 

seeds for the most of the common herbs should be sown 
early in spring, in drills about an inch deep, and two feet 
apart, each kind by itself. As they grow, thin them out. 



AROMATIC HERBS. 39 

Some of these herbs are annuals, dying after the first 
year ; others are biennial, dying after perfecting their seed 
in the second year ; others are perennial, bearing from the 
same root for many years, and may be propagated by separ- 
ating the root, or by suckers and cuttings. 

Some hardy perennials, such as Balm {Melissa officinalis), 
some of the Mint family (also perennials), such as Spear- 
mint (J\fent]ia viridis), Peppermint (^Mentha piperita), Pen- 
nyroyal Mint (il/ pulegiuni), do not require a very rich 
soil, but should have a well-drained or dry sub-soil. The 
beds should be renewed after the fourth year. The mint 
is a creeping herb that cannot be hoed ; and after the stalks 
are cut, dig the sides of the beds, throw the earth up, and 
spread it gently and smoothly on the bed, with a top-dressing 
of very rotten dung. 

I shall give a catalogue of such herbs as are commonly 
cultivated and used for seasoning meats and soups, and of 
those which are called in requisition when colds and slight 
disorders disturb the household. 

Aromatic or Culinary Herbs. 

Anise, Pimpinella anisum. 

Basil, Sweet, Ocymum hasilicum. 

Burnet, Garden. Poterium Sanguisorha. 

Caraway, Cariim carui. 

Marigold, Pot, Calendula officinalis. 

Marjoram, Sweet, Origanum Marjorana. 

Mint, Pennyroyal, Mentha pidegium. 

Sage, Common, Salvia officinalis. 

Savory, Summer, Satureja hortensis. 

Savory, Winter, Satureja montana. 

Spearmint, Mentha viridis. 

Thyme, Common, Thymus vidgaris. 

Thyme, Lemon, Thymus Seipyllum. 



40 aromatic herbs. 

Medicinal Herbs. 

Boneset, or Tliorougliwort, Eupatorium perfoliatum. 

Balm, Melissa officinalis. 

Catmint, Nepeta Cataria. 

Chamomile, Anthemis nobilis. 

Elecampane, Inula Helenium. 

Horehound, Marruhium vulgare. 

Horsemint, Monarda punctata. 

Hyssop, Hyssopus officinalis. 

Lavender, Lavendula spica. 

Lovao"e, Ligusticum Levisticum. 

Motherwort, Leonurus cardiaca. 

Poppy, Opium, Papaver somniferum. 

Rosemary, Hosmarijms officinalis. 

Rue, Garden, Muta graveolens. 

Tansy, Tanacetum vulgare. 

Wormwood, Artemisia absinthium. 

In the autumn, hardy perennials like the various Mints, 
and such plants as Chamomile, Lovage, Horehound, and Pot 
Marjoram, should be trimmed close to the ground. The 
beds of such as are shrubby plants, and not creepers, should 
be carefully dug, and the earth loosened around the roots of 
the plants. 

Tender plants must be potted and housed for the winter. 

Of Sweet Basil, the two species generally cultivated are 
annuals. The Sweet-scented or larger Basil (0. hasilicuin), 
and the Dwarf Bush Basil (0. minimum). They like a 
light, rich soil, exposed to the sun, after they have estab- 
lished themselves ; but the younger plants require to be 
sheltered. 

Of Marjoram (Origanum) there are eight species, and 
numerous varieties. The common Pot Marjoram has a 
creeping root, and is of a high aromatic flavor. 



AROMATIC HERBS. 41 

Sweet or Summer Marjoram, a favorite of the kitchen, is 
propagated always by the seed, while the perennials can be 
raised by the roots, or from slips and offsets, which should 
be well watered till they have taken root. The soil should 
be well pulverized, and, after cuttings have been taken, care- 
fully stirred, and a top-dressing of light, well-prepared com- 
post thrown on the top of the bed. 

Summer Savory {Satureja hortensis), also in happy repu- 
tation, is an annual. 

Sage (^Salvia officinalis). There are several varieties of 
this herb. The common Garden Sage requires a light soil, 
but if too much enriched it soon exhausts itself. It is culti- 
vated by seed, and also by rooted offsets, and sometimes by 
cuttings from the healthier shoots, which have thrown them- 
selves out at the sides of the plant. Put the shoots deep into 
the ground, leaving only the top leaves above the surface. 

Thyme (vulgaris). This herb is propagated by seed and 
rooted slips. The lemon-scented variety is a favorite. The 
seed is never covered more than about half an inch below the 
ground. It should be sown plentifully, and when they have 
been up a few weeks, thinned out. It is called perennial, 
but it hardly ever survives the rigor of a New England 
winter. Too much water causes the roots to decay. The 
soil should not be over rich, but very nicely pulverized. 
The roots, when young, should be sheltered from the noon- 
day sun ; afterwards they may be transplanted to a more 
exposed situation. Thyme is a running herb, and conse- 
quently cannot be hoed. When the stalks are cut, the weeds 
should be carefully removed, and a little light soil and very 
rotten manure thrown on the surface of the bed. 

Medicinal herbs are not in such full reign as formerly. 
The author well recollects hearing the Rev. Dr. Bentley 
say that he drank sage tea for every bodily ailment, even 

for a wounded foot. 

4* 



42 AROMATIC HERBS. 

Mineral medicines have superseded, in a great degree, the 
use of herbs. 

Wormwood is still used, mixed with rum, for allaying 
feverish excitement incident to bruises and sprains. 

The Oil of Rosemary is at present an ingredient in certain 
lotions. 

Poppy is yet in merited esteem. An infusion of white 
poppy leaves for bathing weak eyes is often beneficial, and 
poppy leaves laid on the top of poultices for healing purposes, 
have a soothing effect. 

Hyssop tea is used for infantine disorders, and joins with 
^Catmint in making a nourishing drink for infants. 

Motherwort tea continues to be considered a harmless 
tonic, and Thorough wort a wholesome purgative, while 
Chamomile plays an undisputed part in restoring tone to 
a weak stomach. 

Pennroyal is generally dried on the stalk, and hung up 
in paper bags. It makes a soothing and agreeable tea. It 
is much used as a defence against wood-ticks and fleas, 
and is sometimes put round a horse's harness to keep the 
flies off. 

Tansy, though not able to come to amicable terms with 
every stomach, is drunk by many as a tonic, and to extermi- 
nate worms. Meat rubbed with tansy leaves is said to keep 
off the visits of the flesh-fly. Many books give us receipts 
for making tansy pudding, but I have never seen the person 
who has eaten one, — that is, to my knowledge. 

Herbs are dried for winter use in an oven, quick and 
thoroughly, taking care not to burn them ; take the leaves 
from the stalks, pound and sift, and bottle them closely, or 
put them into close-fitting tin boxes. 

Vinegars are frequently flavored with herbs ; they make 
a nice seasoning for some sauces, hashes, and ragouts. 

Gather the leaves fresh on a dry, sunny day, and pick 



AKSENIC. 43 

them carefally. Fill a stone jar with such herbs as you 
prefer for flavoring, and pour some wine or cider vinegar 
over them, and let them steep for nine or ten days ; then 
strain, and bottle the liquid. 

Wine extracts the virtues of herbs and roots in the same 
manner as vinegar, and is prepared in the same manner. 
Herb wines are often used for beef, and dishes made from 
calf's head. 

ARROWROOT. This farinaceous substance is taken 
from the roots of certain plants. The Jamaica and Ber- 
muda are considered as nice as any. Gruels and jellies 
made from arrowroot are relished by invalids and children, 
and are desirable occasionally for all, as a change from hear- 
tier diet. Arrowroot does not require to be boiled, but it is 
much healthier to be cooked. In using it either for gruel 
or blancmange or puddings, you must first wet the arrowroot, 
as you would starch, before adding to it the full quantity of 
liquid. 

Arrowroot Blancmange. 

Mix in a little cold water two teaspoonfuls of arrowroot, 
and pour over it a pint of boiling milk, sweetened and fla- 
vored to your taste or present wants. Put the mixture 
over the fire, and stir it constantly for two or three minutes. 
You can turn it into a mould, and garnish with colored 
jellies. 

Arrowroot Gruel. 

Mix a little arrowroot, not quite a table-spoonful, and pour 
over it boiling water ; season it with a salt-spoon of salt (not 
heaped), a little white sugar, and nutmeg. 

ARSENIC, in a metallic state, is of a bluish-white color. 
As an acid, it is known as a sudden and virulent poison. 



44 ARTICHOKE. 

Arsenic is frequently used in the manufacture of glass and 
the nicer kinds of porcelain ; for this reason, it is not well to 
set aside acids in cups and drinking-glasses, with an. inten- 
tion of using the liquid, as the alkali in the glass may be 
sufficient, when brought in conjunction with acids, to hold 
the arsenic in solution. Arsenic is used in the manufacture 
of shot, and when shot is used to cleanse bottles, care should 
be taken to throw them all out in the final rinsing. Many 
paints have arsenic for their basis. 

When arsenic has been swallowed, give large quantities 
of sugar and water, and at the same time administer a gen- 
erous dose of ipecacuanha, which may be repeated ; if the 
latter cannot be had immediately, two or three spoonfuls of 
made mustard, diluted in warm water, may induce vomiting. 
Oil is never to be taken till the poison is entirely ejected. 
After the patient has happily passed the crisis, some simple 
matters, such as barley or rice water, milk, or flax-seed tea, 
can be taken to quiet the stomach. 

ARTICHOKE {Cynara). There are two varieties, the 
oval green Cynara Scolymus, or French, and Cynara hor- 
tensis, or Globe Artichoke. The latter is considered best 
for common culture, the heads being larger, and producing 
more eatable substance, and being without the strong, mawk- 
ish, perfumed taste peculiar to the French, or oval green. 
Both varieties may be cultivated from the seed or sucker 
taken from large plants early in spring. It is perennial, but, 
like everything else, it is the better for frequent renewals ; 
a bed will, however, under favorable circumstances of soil 
and climate, continue to produce heads five or six years. 
They require a loose, light, and moist soil. The seed should 
be sown about an inch deep, and at such distances as to 
allow the earth, when the plants are up, to be lightened 
around them. If a plant throws out a great many suck- 



ARTICHOKE, JERUSALEM. 45 

ers, some should be removed, in order that the remain- 
der may be more vigorous for transplanting. Transplant 
them, in cloudy weather, to a rich, moist soil, and water 
them frequently while rooting. For winter protection, the 
roots must be covered with a light mould, close to their 
leaves, and a little well-rotted manure thrown over them. 
If the compost is too rich, it will cause them to decay. 

When ripe, the scales expand. They should be cut before 
the flower makes its aj)pearance. Cut the stem always 
close to the ground. 

The Artichoke is not regarded as a very nourishing vege- 
table ; but it is much esteemed by those who have acquired 
a relish for it. When gathered, they should be thrown into 
cold water, and be well washed, and then be put into fresh 
cold water, and soaked for about an hour, before they are 
cooked. Put them into boiling water, with a little salt, 
and if fully gi'own boil them an hour and a half, or till they 
are tender. Drain them, and serve them with melted butter, 
pepper, and salt. In Europe, artichokes, when dried, are 
baked with mushrooms in meat pies. 

ARTICHOKE, JERUSALEM {Rellanthus tuherosus). 
This is a native of America, as indeed are all the plants of 
the Sunflower genus. Professor Low (Elements of Practi- 
cal Agriculture) says : " Although believed to be a native of 
the warmer parts of America, it is one of the hardiest of our 
cultivated plants, very productive, easily propagated, and 
growing on the poorest soils. As compared with the tubers 
of the potato, they are watery, and may be believed to be 
inferior in nutritive properties. But the quantity is fre- 
quently very large ; about five hundred bushels per acre, it 
is said, having been produced without manure. The tubers 
do hot seem to have great fattening properties, but they are 
eagerly eaten by animals." 



46 ART OF GARDENING. 

They are cultivated in a similar manner to potatoes. If 
the stems are pruned, the tubers will be improved. They 
require to be placed three or four feet apart, in rows or drills, 
to be occasionally hoed, and to be kept free of weeds. They 
are also cooked with the same variety that the potato enjoys. 

They are commonly boiled, scraped, carefully drained, 
mashed, and a little cream and butter beaten into them, 
seasoned with salt and pepper. 

They are sometimes parboiled, and then placed in a pan 
under roasting meat, and either sent to the table on the dish 
with the meat, or served separately. They may be boiled 
plain, and served with melted butter poured over them. 

ART OF GARDENING. Mr. Roscoe, the elegant 
author of the Lives of Lorenzo de Medicis and of Leo the 
Tenth, speaking from personal experience, — for he, like his 
father before him, had been an active laborer in agricultural 
pursuits, — has said : " If I were asked whom I consider to 
be the happiest of the human race, I should answer, those 
who cultivate the earth with their own hands." 

As most houses in villages have vegetable gardens, we 
shall give some brief hints upon the making and preserving 
such gardens ; these suggestions have been gathered from 
experience and the best authorities. 

The largest produce with the smallest expense, is the 
favorite axiom of the gardener, as of the larger agriculturist. 
To attain this end, there should be a careful husbandry of 
every kind of fertilizer ; chip-dust, bones, decayed or decay- 
ing leaves, soot, dish and stale meat-pickle water, ashes, 
liquid manures, should all be brought into requisition by the 
careful housewife. 

The soil of the garden should be light, well pulverized, 
and kept in good spirits by liquid manures. Weeds should 
be carefully extirpated. One cannot always choose the 



ART OF GARDENING. 47 

site. Mr. Forsyth says : " A garden, if possible, should be 
on a gentle declivity towards the south, a little inclining to 
the east, to receive the benefit of the morning sun." Low 
bottom lands are subjected to blights, mildews, and frosts, 
and, on the other hand, a too lofty situation is exposed to 
merciless winds, that break the branches of trees and shrub- 
bery, and scatter prematurely the blossoms of the orchard. 

Having secured as good a situation as circumstances per- 
mit, and made art supply original defects of situation, the 
next step is to ascertain the nature of the soil. If it be very 
wet, drains must be dug to carry off the superfluous water. 
These drains must be made to draw into the main drain, 
which can be laid under the principal walk of the garden. 
In a small garden of an acre, one well-constructed drain will 
generally be sufficient, if the soil be not deplorably wet. 

A cold, stubborn, clayey soil requires to be lightened by 
horse-manure, wood and coal ashes, sand, and chip-dust, in 
order to become porous, and accessible to the outer atmos- 
phere. 

Dry and sandy soils require manures which will increase 
their weight, and promote an adhesiveness favorable to the 
retention of moisture. Cow-manure, river-mud, clay, fish- 
offal, can be given to such soils with advantage. 

Ground which retains moisture, and is neither very sandy 
nor very clayey, which in drying does not bake in obstinate 
sour cakes, has a good constitution for the produce of most 
vegetables. 

If your land is new, it will require two or three deep 
ploughings before it can be worked. 

The implements for a garden may easily be multiplied to 
a useless excess. A skilful gardener brings his labor about 
with comparatively few tools. 

Two spades, of different forms, a hand hoe, a garden rake, 
an asparagus fork, one or two drilling-machines for sowing 



48 ART OF GARDENING. 

seed, a wheelbarrow, and, if convenient, a roller for paths 
and to smooth beds just after the putting in of seed, will be 
all that is requisite for a common kitchen garden ; other 
wants, as they arise, being readily supplied by an ingenious 
person. Sieves for covering squashes from the heat of the 
sun while young can be made of home manufacture ; a roller 
can be supplied by boards laid on the ground, but neither 
roller nor boards should be used while the ground is wet ; 
and coal-ashes for walks make hard, clean paths, and tend 
to keep off insects ; even the drilling may be done by hoes 
or dibbles, after a line is stretched, and the distances marked 
for the different rows. 

I propose to make a few remarks upon the following 
common garden vegetables ; viz. Common Bean {Faba vul- 
garis), Common Beet {Beta vulgaris), Cabbage (JBrassica 
oleracea), Carrot {Daucus Carota), Celery {Apium grave- 
olens), Cress {Lajpidium sativum), Cucumber [Cucumis sa- 
tiva), Chives {Allium Schoenoprasuiii), Horseradish {Coch- 
learia Arinoracia), Indian Corn {Zea Mays), Lettuce {Lac- 
tuca sativa crispa). Melon {Cucumis Melo), Water-Melon 
{Oucurhita Citrullus), Mustard {Sinapis), Onion {Allium 
Cepa), Parsley {Apium Petroselinum), Parsnip {Pastinaca 
sativa). Peas {Pisum sativum), Pepper {Capsicum), Potato 
{Solatium tuberosum). Pumpkin {Oucurhita Pej)o), Radish 
{Raphanus sativa). Rhubarb {Rheum), Salsify {Tragopogon 
porrifolius), Common Spinach {Spinacia oleracea). Squash 
{Cucurhita Mdopepo), Tomato {Solarium Lycopersicum), 
Turnip {Brassica Rapa). 

Bean {Faha vulgaris). 

There are great varieties of the Common Bean. The 
English Garden Bean requires care in this country, as our 
summers are apt to wilt and destroy the blossom. They 
should be planted as early in the spring as possible, in drills 



ART OF GARDENING. 49 

not quite two inches deep and three or four inches apart, 
with an interval between the drills of three or four feet. 
When a few inches high they should be hoed, and when 
in full bloom the tops can be broken off, that the vigor of 
the plant may be du'ected to filling out the pods. Some 
of the varieties of the English Dwarf are known as Early 
Mazagan, Broad Windsor, Sword Long Pod, Green Non- 
pareil. 

Kidney Dwarf Beans. — These beans are from India, 
South America, and warm climates, and require care and 
a rich soil. They may be planted either in hills or drills. 
The drills should be two or three feet apart, and the 'beans 
some inches asunder. They should be carefully hoed as 
they grow, and the earth be drawn about their stems from 
time to time. 

Among this family of beans are the dehcious Cranberries ; 
also the Refugee, or One Thousand for One, which is usually 
planted in hills. 

Some of the early varieties are Early Dun-colored Quaker, 
Early Valentine, Early Mohawk, Early China Dwarf, Early 
Yellow Six-weeks, Early Rob Roy, Early Black Dwarf. 
The Early Mohawk is considered the hardiest of these 
varieties. 

The Yellow, White, and Red Dwarf Cranberry, and the 
Warrington or Marrow Bean, are all delicious table veg- 
etables. 

Beans, Pole. — These species are also planted in hills or 
drills ; the same distances, as already mentioned above, being 
preserved. Tall poles, ten feet high, are inserted in each 
hill, or along the drills, and the beans planted around them. 
In planting the Lima Bean, it is best to put not less than 
seven or eight in each hill, as these species of beans are af- 
fected by damp weather, and often rot in the ground. They 
can afterwards be thinned, so as to leave but three or four 
5 



50 ART OF GARDENING. 

healthy plants in each liill. The Lima Bean also requires 
richer soil than other running beans, and the hills should be 
four feet from each other, on either side. Put the seeds 
about half an inch under ground. 

Amon<2c the varieties of Pole Beans are the Red and 
White Pole Cranberry, the Large White Lima from South 
America, and the Saba or Small Lima, London Horticul- 
tural Speckled, White Dutch Runners, Scarlet Runners, 
and Asparagus or Yard-Long. 

Beet (^Beta vulgaris). 

Beets are biennials. The Mangel-Wurzel is cultivated 
for cattle ; it takes its name from the German ; it is also 
called Root of Scarcity. It is considered excellent for cows, 
highly nutritious, inducing milk, without imparting a taint to 
it, as turnips do. The highly blood-colored are much prized 
for the table. 

Beets are planted in drills, a foot apart, and not quite two 
inches below the surface, and thinned out as soon as they 
are strong, hoed, and kept clear of weeds. It is desirable to 
have the earth in good order by previous tillage, and not to 
be obliged to apply manure at the time of putting the beet- 
seed in the ground. 

One of the earliest varieties is the Early Blood Turnip- 
rooted. 

The French Sugar Beet, white, red, and yellow, is used 
extensively in Europe for the manufacture of sugar. It is 
an excellent variety for the table. The common Green, 
Red, and White Beet are all desirable for the table. The 
Early Spring are sometimes tough and stringy, from being 
subjected to the changes of uncertain weather. Under favor- 
able growth, the young plants that are pulled for thinning 
are served with their tops on, and are sweet and tender. 

For winter use they should be planted in July ; if too 



ART OF GARDENING. 51 

long in the ground, they become coarse and corky for table 
use. 

The soil should be finely pulverized for beets, and, after 
the beets are up, well stirred by frequent hoeings. 

Cabbage (Brassica oleracea). 

The Cabbage, says Professor Low, commonly so called, is 
Brassica oleracea. This species assumes a vast variety ol 
form and character. The Wild Cabbage, from which the. 
greater number of the cultivated kinds are derived, is a little 
plant growing upon our sea-coasts. Yet to this plant w( 
certainly owe the greater part of the numerous varieties 
cultivated in our gardens and fields. We cannot, indeed, be 
assured of the origin of all the cultivated kinds ; besides the 
variations produced by climate and art, all the species of 
Brassica form hybrids with one another. 

With us a variety of ways are made use of to bring forward 
the Cabbage, according to the climate and soil. The early 
kinds are raised in hot-beds, and transplanted into beds of 
rich soil, covering them at night to protect them from frosts. 
Plants of the early sorts may generally be raised from seed, 
in most of the New England States, some time in April, 
unless the season is quite backward. 

Cabbages are attacked by various worms and insects, which 
sometimes eat up whole rows. It is well on transplanting 
them to keep a narrow watch on these depredators, and to 
place a little circle of salt round each of the plants ; also 
lime, ashes, snuff, and pungent-smelling substances. 

Among the early varieties are the Early Dutch, Sugar- 
loaf, Early York, Early Heart-shaped, &c. 

The Yorkshire, Drumhead, and American or Bergen Cab- 
bage have large leaves, which form close, dense heads. 
These require to be placed in drills several feet apart, with an 
interval between the plants in the rows of two or three feet. 



52 ART OF GARDENING. 

The seed of the Ked Cabbage can be sown towards the 
last of April or first of May in favorable seasons. This is a 
desirable cabbage for pickling, and for winter salads. 

The seeds of the Savoy, a popular table variety, are 
generally sown in New England in May, in a rich, well- 
prepared soil. These plants, on being transplanted, will not 
require to be placed so far apart as the larger kinds. 

The richer and fresher the soil, the better for the Cabbage, 
which also requires the ground to be deeply stirred while 
growing, in the same manner as for turnips. 

Cauliflower and Broccoli are both species of Cabbage. 
Broccoli is not cultivated so universally with us as the Cauli- 
flower ; it has, like the latter, large heads of seeds, only the 
Broccoli has its seeds of difierent colors, purple, green, 
brown, and white. The white varieties are often mistaken 
for Cauliflower. 

Cauliflower requires to be protected from the extremes 
of heat and cold. As the heads tend to maturity, the larger 
leaves are broken over them to preserve their purity of 
color and compactness of growth. Over two feet every way 
should be given as space for the Cauliflower, and from time 
to time the beds should be forked, to keep the earth between 
the plants porous and open to the atmosphere. 

Carrot (JD'aucus Carota). 

The Carrot grows wild in Great Britain. It is an ex- 
cellent vegetable for cows. The Carrot thrives best in rich 
land, which has been subjected to previous tillage. It is 
sown in drills not deeper than an inch, and the drills 
about a foot apart. The Early Orange, the Long Orange, 
and Altingham are the varieties usually selected for the 
kitchen garden. 

Celery {Apiujn graveolens). 

Celery, as is well known, is Smallage cultivated. The 



ART OF GARDENING. 53 

seed is sown in cold beds ; when it is well up, the plants are 
put into a bed of rich earth, and allowed to remain for a 
few weeks, when they are transplanted into trenches. These 
trenches should be made in the richest part of the garden, 
and dug a little more than a foot deep, leaving the earth 
thus taken out on either side of the trenches. Some rotten 
manure is mixed in at the bottom of the trench, putting some 
of the loamy earth from the sides with it. In the centre of 
the trench place the plants, leaving five or six inches be- 
tween each plant. They should be abundantly watered and 
partially shaded for the first two or three weeks. They may 
be hoed some time before they are earthed. The earthing 
should be done in dry weather, otherwise it is apt to make 
the celery grow rusty. Celery intended for winter is planted 
later in the summer. 

Cress (Lapidium sativum). 

The Curled, or Peppergrass, is liked by many with Lettuce. 
It is sown in little drills, quite thickly, and in ground free 
from weeds. It is of easy cultivation. 

Cucumber (Ctccumts sativd). 

The seed of the cucumber is put into hills of rich earth, 
well-rotted manure being placed in each hill. Cucumbers 
are sometimes raised in the squash bed. The hills should 
be three or four feet apart. They require water in dry 
weather, and to have the insects kept off from them. Char- 
coal-dust, wood-ashes, and washes with such liquids as are 
destructive to insects and not injurious to the young plants, 
water in which burdock-leaves, soot, &c. have been steeped, 
can be advantageously applied. Cucumbers should be always 
plucked before they turn yellow, as otherwise they soon ex- 
haust the vine. 



54 ART OF GARDENING. 

Chives {AUium Schoejioprasum). 

A species of Onion, which is grown from the ofishoots it 
sends out from its roots. They are planted in rows about a 
foot apart, and with an interval between the bulbs of three 
or four inches. 

Horseradish {^Cochlearia Armoracia). 

Horseradish may be planted, either in a bed or in drills, 
from cuttings from the root or offshoots. Any tolerably 
strong, moist soil will grow horseradish. If it is occasionally 
hoed, it will be improved. 

Indian Corn (Zea Mays). 

Indian Corn is usually grown in hills several feet apart. 
It requires good soil and warm weather. When about 
seventeen inches high, it should be hoed deeply. A little 
ashes scattered on each hill will tend to keep the insects off. 

The best sorts for a kitchen garden are Early Dutton, 
Tuscarora, Canadian, and Sweet or Sugar. 

Lettuce (Lactuca sativa crispa). 

■ Lettuce is often sown in hot-beds. It requires the richest 
soil, frequent hoeings, and an equal moisture. The varieties 
are infinite. Royal Cape, Curled India, Dutch or Cabbage, 
Large Green Curled, are all considered superior. 

Melon {Gucumis Melo). 

Early in May prepare, in rich, light soil, beds about six 
feet apart every way, and at the corners of the bed dig 
deeply, and put in well-rotted manure, and throw in fine 
loamy earth, and mix it well with the manure. Into these 
corners put seven or eight melon-seeds. If they all come up, 
thin them, and bring the earth up round the plants. The 



ART OF GARDENING. 55 

ground should be kept scrupulously clear of weeds. Pluck 
off the first runner buds, to keep the vigor of the plants for 
the fruit. Plant Melons by themselves, if you wish to keep 
the virtues of an individual kind, as the Melon mixes pollen 
with all the Cucumber family. 

The Striped Cucumber Bug (Galereuca vittatd) and the 
Cucumber Flea Beetle, a little black, skipping insect, are 
the enemies of the Melon. Use diluted alkalies, soot, and 
lime. Mr. Downing has recommended the use of guano, 
sprinkling the soil just beneath the plants as soon as they 
come up, the pungent smell ridding the plant of its destroy- 
ers, and giving it a fine start in the early part of the season. 
(Fruits and Fruit-trees of America.) 

The culture of the Melon is easy, and of great productive- 
ness, excepting in the most Northern States ; and the author 
has eaten delicious melons grown at Bangor, Maine. 

Bits of slate and blackened shingles placed under each 
melon are said to improve the size and flavor of the fruit. 
(Mr. Downing.) 

The Green-fleshed Melon, in which class is found the 
Citron and the Nutmeg, contains some of the choicest and 
most popular varieties. The oval. Yellow-fleshed, are in- 
ferior in comparison to the round. Green-fleshed, above 
mentioned. Mr. Downing has mentioned the Persian Mel- 
on, of a thin skin and delicious flavor and honey-like flesh, 
as a variety repaying the additional care of a hot-bed and 
irrigation, or constant watering, and careful mixture for the 
making of soil. (Fruits and Fruit-trees of America.) 

Melon-seed, if good, will sink in water ; if worthless, it will 
float on the surface. 

Water-Melon {Cucurhita Citrulliis). 

The Water-Melon is cultivated in the same manner as 
the Melon, excepting the hills are placed eight feet apart, 
instead of six. 



56 AKT OF GARDENING. 

Mustard (Sinapis), White and Black. 

Sinapis dlha^ White Mustard, and Sinapis nigra. Black 
Mustard, are both easily cultivated. They may be sown 
early in spring. Sinapis nigra is that from which mustard 
is usually manufactured. White Mustard is used for stuff- 
ing mangoes, and both varieties for salads. 

Onion {Allium Cepd). 

Onions will not grow on wet and stubborn soils; they 
require a rich bed, with strong but old manure well mixed 
in it to the depth of a spade. The bed should have a sunny 
exposure, and be prepared early in the spring. The seed is 
sown in drills about an inch deep, with an interval between 
the drills of twelve inches. As they come up, thin them out, 
if too thick, till several inches is left between the bulbs. In 
the early stages of their gro^vth, they may be hoed ; but 
after they have assumed the bulb, they must be weeded. by 
hand. 

When onions are fully ripened, the tops begin to turn yel- 
low and decay. 

The seeds of onions are also sometimes sowed late in the 
spring, and pulled up in the fall, and dried, and kept over 
winter, and set out in the following spring, and cultivated in 
the same manner as onions from the seed. 

Among the approved varieties for the table are the White 
Portugal, and Silver-skin, or Yellow Onion. 

Parsley {Apiwn Petroselinum). 

There are several varieties, all easily cultivated. The 
Common Parsley is the well-known pot-herb, and the curled 
varieties form the familiar garnish that gives coolness and 
brightness to many dishes. Sow the seed in drills about an 
inch deep, and place the drills about a foot apart. Hoe fre- 
quently to keep free from weeds. 



ART OF GARDENING. 57 

The Large-rooted Parsley {Apium latifolium) is cultivat- 
ed in the same manner with parsnips and carrots. If sown 
thick, they should be thinned out as they come up. 

Parsley can be kept through a large part of the winter, if 
taken up and put in boxes, and kept in a good cellar, and 
watered occasionally and exposed to the light. 

Parsley is biennial, but it is well to sow it annually. 
Rabbits are fed upon parsley. 

Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa). 

Parsnips thrive best in a soil enriched by previous tillage. 
No manure should be applied at the time of sowing seed. 
As early as spring culture can be undertaken, the beds should 
be dug deep, the seed sown in drills about an inch deep, and 
an interval left between the drills of about fourteen inches. 
Sow the seeds thickly, and when two or three inches high, 
if they seem strong, thin them, so as to leave six or seven 
inches between each plant. They require gentle hoeing 
all through the summer, to keep off the weeds. In autumn 
some can be taken up for winter use, and others left in the 
ground till spring, as the frost sweetens and improves the 
parsnip. 

Peas {Pisum sativum). 

There are many varieties of the Garden Pea. The early 
varieties can be put into the soil as soon as the ground can 
be worked ; other sorts can be planted, at intervals of about 
a fortnight, till the end of May. 

All the varieties may be planted either in single or double 
rows ; and all, even the dwarf varieties, should be supported 
when two or three inches high, by fan-shaped sticks for the 
tendrils to run upon. The drills have an interval between 
them, which is determined by the kind of Pea planted ; the 
space is generally from four to six feet apart. 



58 ART OF GARDENING. 

The finest Marrowfat Peas grow very high, and require 
long sticks. To save sticks, and to increase the yield, some 
gardeners make two drills about three inches deep, and nine 
inches apart, and drop the seed into both drills rather thick. 
As the plants reach two or three inches in height, they 
are hoed, and the earth brought up round the stems, and 
when six or seven inches high they should be hoed again, 
and a line of sticks placed between the rows, of a height 
suitable to the variety of Pea. A few smaller sticks may 
be put on the outside of the rows, as steps to lead to the main 
centre sticks or poles. It is poor economy to use rotten and 
brittle sticks. Rows are in such instances blown down by 
the wind, or by the first gathering of the vegetable. Some 
people dip the ends of their sticks in tar or resinous prepa- 
ration to keep them some seasons. 

Peas will grow either on light or heavy soils, but thrive 
best on light ones. If the ground is too rich, they run to 
vine, but yield poorly. 

Pepper (^Capsicum). 

Of this family there are several varieties. They belong 
to the East and West Indies, but are easily grown in all the 
States with a little care. They are often brouglit forward 
in the hot-bed, and on reaching the height of two or three 
inches are transplanted into good rich beds, witli a sunny 
exposure, allowing sufficient space between each for a hand- 
hoe to be worked, as they require to be kept free from 
weeds. 

Some of the pods .of the different varieties are red, and 
others yellow, on reaching maturity. They are gathered 
green for pickling. 

The Capsicum grossum, or Bell-shaped, is in warm cli- 
mates perennial. It has a thick skin, and is pulpy and 
delicate in texture. 



ART OF GARDENING. 59 

When the pods are ripe they are cut, and hung in the 
sun in a dry atmosphere. The seed is preserved in the pod 
if it is effectually dried. "When powdered it is used for pep- 
per-tea, for the relief of violent colds and sore throats. 

The variety Sweet Spanish is used as a salad. 

Potato (^Solanum tuberosum). 

The Potato is a native of America. Of the genus Sola- 
num, it belongs to the natural order Solanacece, or the Night- 
shade tribe. Some of this family, it is well known, are poi- 
sonous, as the Deadly Nightshade ; others have stimulating 
and narcotic properties, and others afford us food. The 
potato is said to eject some poisonous properties, on being 
subjected to heat in the process of cooking, and, for this 
reason, the practice of changing the water they are boiled in 
is a commendable one. 

Potatoes are mostly planted in drills, either whole or cut 
into pieces, each piece having an eye. They are frequently 
cut a week before they are planted, and spread on a dry 
barn-floor to dry. They are planted five or six inches deep, 
and seven or eight inches from each other, in drills about 
thirty inches apart. They are hoed as soon as they are up, 
and from time to time the earth is thrown up around the 
plants. 

Potatoes require a great deal of manure. Common stable 
manure, bone-dust, and alkalies are all favorable, but lime 
cannot be used with advantage. 

Pumpkin {Cucurhita Pepd). 

Pumpkin beds are prepared in a similar manner to 
melon and cucumber beds, but the soil need not be so highly 
prepared. 

Radish (Raphanus sativa). 

Radishes do not love a wet, stubborn soil, and should 



60 ART OF GARDENING. 

have beds carefully prepared early in the spring, and be 
sown in a light loam with a sunny exposure. If the weather 
is dry, they require watering, to swell the roots. They 
should grow rapidly, or they are tough and stringy or corky. 
Stir in strong manure into the beds, and keep wood-ashes, 
tobacco-dust, and soot on the surface of the bed, to drive off 
insects. The seed is put in drills about an inch deep and 
a foot apart. 

Rhubarb {Rheum). 

This genus of plants contains several varieties. JRhapon- 
ticum, or Common Rhubarb, is the kind commonly cultivated 
for its stalks. Rheum undulatum is also cultivated in kitchen 
gardens. 

Palmatum, or Ojfficinal Rhuharh, is the variety whose 
root is so valuable for medicine. It is cultivated largely in 
Turkey, and is a native of China and the East Indies. This 
variety has never been much cultivated in America. 

The Common Rhubarb requires a light, rich soil, and to 
be dug to the depth of two spades. It is propagated by the 
seed or by offshoots. In the spring the plants are brought 
forward by having stable manure put around them, and 
being covered by barrels or large tubs. It is much im- 
proved by cultivation. 

Sal s if y ( Tragopogon porrifolius) . 

This plant, known also as the Vegetable Oyster, is much 
cultivated in Virginia, and cooked there in a variety of ways. 

The seed should be sown early in spring, in good gar- 
den earth, in drills an inch deep and -ibout a foot apart. 
The seeds ripen unequally, and therefore it is safer to sow 
the seed rather generously. They may he thinned when 
two or three inches high, so that a small hoe can be passed 
between them, to keep the earth loose and light. 



ART OF GARDENING. 61 

Spinach (Spinacia oleracea). 

This is a valuable vegetable for the kitchen garden, being 
hardy in its habits and of a wholesome nature. It will only 
flourish in rich soil, and if the ground is poor, strong manure 
must be liberally thrown into the bed. It can be cultivated 
in drills ; as soon as it is a few inches high, it must be 
carefully hoed, and the practice continued all through its 
growth. 

Spinach is regarded mostly as a spring vegetable, but it is 
sometimes put into beds, in autumn, that have become empty 
by the taking up of vegetables. 

, There are several varieties of spinach, the Savoy Spinach, 
Broad-leaved Spinach, Holland, &:c. A variety called New 
Zealand Spinach, or Teiragona expansa, lasts into autumn. 
It grows, if the season is favorable, luxuriantly ; and is 
planted in hills some feet apart, with but few seeds to a hill. 

Squash {Gucurbita Mehpepo). 

Beds are prepared for the Squash in the same manner as 
for melons and cucumbers. Those which are great runners 
have an interval between them of six or nine feet, while the 
bush varieties are planted three or four feet apart. 

Early Summer Squashes are gathered while the outside 
is sensitive to the pressure of the finger-nail. 

Winter Squashes are kept out as long as possible, in order 
to be hardier for winter keeping. On cold nights they are 
covered with matting or old carpet, to protect them from the 
frost. They should be thoroughly dried by the sun before 
they are put up for winter. Care should be taken not to 
bruise them ; and they should be kept on a dry floor or 
shelf, in a room at an equal temperature, but never at the 
freezing point. 

Early Bush, Early Crook-neck, &c. are summer varieties. 
Canada Crook-neck, Acorn Squash, are both nice varieties 
6 



62 ART OF GARDENING. 

for winter. There are other varieties of great merit. Plant 
different varieties by themselves ; sown near cucumbers, 
melons, or other squashes, the mixture of the pollen deterio- 
rates the seed for the following season. 

Tomato {Solanum Lycopersicum). 

There are two species of the Tomato, the Ked Tomato 
and the Yellow. In each of these are found sub-varieties, 
with differences of size and shape. 

The large Red Squash-shaped is the most commonly 
cultivated for the table and for catchups. The small Red 
Cherry-shaped is used for pickling. 

The yellow varieties differ principally in shape. The 
small Cherry Yellow Tomato is a very pretty variety, and 
makes a good common preserve. 

Nothing is of easier culture in a warm climate than the 
Tomato. In Virginia I have known a single plant to bear 
over a bushel of rich, mellow fruit. 

In Massachusetts and in Maine greater care is requisite to 
perfect the fruit. Plants are sometimes brought forward in 
a hot-bed, and often in a cold bed or open box in the house ; 
the boxes being deep and well filled with rich earth, placed 
in a sunny exposure, and kept of an equal moisture. The 
seed must be put in sparsely, and not deeper than half an 
inch. In transplanting, deep holes are dug, and strong 
stable-manure placed in these holes with finely pulverized 
earth, and the plants put in carefully, taking up as much 
earth with them as possible. Each hill should be three or 
four feet apart. They must be protected from the hot sun 
in their early stages, by shingles forced into the ground so 
as to shade them. They should be watered morning and 
night till they set, and occasionally all through the season, 
if the weather be dry. 

As they grow, they need to be trimmed, in order that the 



ART OF GARDENING. 63 

fruit may be exposed to the sun. They can be trained either 
horizontally or to a pole. Care should be taken that the 
fruit does not rot on the ground. Tomatoes are great ex- 
hausters of the soil, and their beds should be changed from 
year to year. 

Turnip (Brassica Rapd). 

Turnips should be sown early in the spring for summer 
use, and for winter vegetables a bed should be sown later. 
If the first crop does not come to maturity early in summer, 
they are stringy and worm-eaten. 

Turnips are best grown upon land which has been pre- 
viously manured. A light soil is desirable. Insects must 
be fought off constantly, by lime, ashes, soot, and pungent 
powders put on the surface of the bed. Sometimes whole 
beds of turnips are cut off by insects. 

For garden culture, turnip-seed is sown in drills about a 
foot apart, and hoed between the rows as the plants grow. 

The Swedish*, or Ruta-Baga, which grows to an enormous 
size, is very good for cows mixed with other food. 

The table varieties are various. The small turnips are 
sweeter than the larger kinds, which are more suitable for 
extensive agricultural purposes. 

Early White Dutch, Swan's Egg, Long Yellow French, 
and many other varieties of white and purple rooted turnip, 
are excellent for the table. 

Garden-seed should seldom be put lower down than an 
inch, unless where seed is necessarily sown late, when it 
may be covered deeper, to protect the seed from being 
scorched by the sun. 

Though it has never been proved that plants throw out 
" matters of an excrementitious nature injurious to the plant 
from which they have been separated," yet it is known that 



64 ART OF GARDENIJ^vJ. 

some plants exhaust tlie fertility of land in a larger degree 
than others, — that certain kinds of food are taken by some 
plants and rejected by others ; and for such reasons a rota- 
tion of crops has always been an invariable maxim with the 
farmer, and the small gardener finds it equally to his benefit 
to change the situation of his beds. 

Spinach, always requiring a rich soil, leaves the ground 
in a good state for such vegetables as salsify, carrots, beets, 
radishes, potatoes, &c. 

Celery beds are excellent for cauliflowers, cabbages, and 
all the Brassica tribe. 

Potatoes leave the ground in a good state for artichokes, 
for an asparagus bed, for lettuce and onion, situation and 
subsoil being favorable. 

Such plants as have luxuriant spreading heads are to be 
followed by those which have but narrow leaves and sparse 
outward growth. 

Vegetables which require frequent deep hoeing prepare 
the ground for plants which must remain stationary, such 
as those herbs whose running roots would be bruised by the 
hoe. 

Transplanting is best done when the ground is w^et and 
the weather cloudy. If it is necessary to transplant when it 
is dry, the ground should be dug deeply, and the plants left 
in rich mud in the cellar till the cool of the evening, and then 
set out in a rich compost, such as will retain moisture, and 
be watered frequently till they have set or taken root. 

Wood-ashes form a very valuable fertilizer to soils lack- 
ing phosphates. Coal-ashes are often used to lighten stiff" and 
stubborn soils. Ashes from soap-boilers have been by many 
cultivators much esteemed. As lime and chalk form the 
principal portions of the ashes of soap-boilers, where a soil 
is found deficient in these substances, they may generally 
be applied with benefit. Ashes, as a manure, act power- 



ASPARAGUS. 65 

fully and quickly, but add little permanent value to the 
soil. 

ASPARAGUS {Asparagus officinalis). This desirable 
and healthy spring vegetable may be raised by sowing the 
seed in the fall or early spring. The seed should be fresh 
and ripe, and put into rich soil, and covered about half an 
inch deep. Hoe carefully when the plants are up, and 
keep them free from weeds. After a careful cultivation, 
some gardeners remove the plants when a year old from the 
nursery bed ; oftener, they are not removed till two years 
old. The bed they are to be finally put into should be 
trenched a foot deep, and well-rotted manure be worked into 
each trench several inches below the surface. Place the 
plants upright along the trench, and fill in with earth as you 
pass along, filling in carefully afterwards, drawing the earth 
round each plant with a rake or hoe. Throw on the surface 
some well-rotted manure. Sea-weed, if within reach, is an 
excellent manure for asparagus beds, which require an 
annual dressing. Old pickle brine may be put on in the 
fall. The bed should be placed in a sunny exposure. 

Asparagus should be carefully cut, so as not to wound the 
coming buds ; a sharp knife should be used, and the shoots 
cut a httle below the surface of the ground. 

Where you have a bed, cut asparagus just before you put 
it into the pot. Tie it in small bundles. Throw a little salt 
into boiling water ; no more water should be used than just 
enough to cover the vegetable. If it boils too long, it will 
lose color and flavor ; twenty minutes will generally find it 
tender. Toast some slices of bread quite dry, pour some of 
the water the asparagus was boiled in over it, and put a 
piece of butter on each j)iece of bread ; lay the asparagus 
on the toast, and put 'a piece of butter on the asparagus. 
You- may serve it with melted butter. 
6* 



66 BAKED MEATS. 

ATTICS. The upper rooms of a house should be kept 
religiously clean. The cook generally sleeps there. Tur- 
pentine round the corners of attic rooms is often sufficient to 
keep ants off. Ants also dislike all alkalies. Never have 
paper on the walls of attic rooms. 

It is customary to reserve, in a large house, one room in 
the attic for such groceries and household matters as are 
improved by an occasional change into a dry atmosphere. 
Cranberries are sometimes spread on a coarse sheet in such 
a room. Loaf-sugar hung here keeps dry and hard. Cer- 
tain wines are improved by an occasional visit here. Flower- 
seeds are spread in a sunny exposure to ripen in this room. 

Curtains should be so placed that they may be easily 
taken down, else they will be a receptacle for insects. The 
floor should be provided with small domestic mats, never 
with heavy carpets. The floors can be easily washed up 
once a week, if painted yellow or lead-color. Let the bed- 
steads be often examined, and quicksilver beaten with the 
white of an egg placed around suspicious crevices. Put it 
on with a feather. Iron bedsteads are easily kept clean, 
as, after removing the clothes, a little camphene poured on 
to the bedstead, and ignited, effects a thorough purification. 

BAKED MEATS. Meats dressed in the oven. ( Wbr- 
ceste7\) 

Most good cooks object to the oven for the generality of 
meats ; for though they lose less in actual weight by baking 
than by any other process, they are thought not to improve 
in piquancy and flavor. Some meats, all agree, make good 
family dishes when put into the oven in deep baking dishes. 
Veal, if not too rich, can be baked with less injury than most 
meats. A leg of mutton stuffed with herb stuffing, with 
slices of parboiled potatoes, artichokes, and bits of onion 
dropped into the pan, makes a good dish. Tomatoes cut up 



BACON. 67 

and baked with meats lend them flavor, and mitigate their 
grossness. Vegetables should be sliced, and the solid roots 
parboiled and put in when the meat is half done. 

Meats baked in the oven of a modern range, where the 
door is occasionally opened and the meat basted, bear a 
nearer resemblance to roasts than meats prepared in a com- 
mon stove. 

Tongues and hams soaked for twenty-four hours, and the 
water changed in the evening, are frequently taken out, and, 
after being wiped, put into a coarse paste, and set into the 
oven, and baked till tender. The paste is taken off before 
they are sent to the table. 

BACON. Pork that is young, not over ten or twelv^e 
months, is best for fomily bacon. It should be well bled, 
and carefully trimmed. 

For fifty pounds of pork, I have frequently used the fol- 
lowing receipt : — Three and a half pints of salt, six ounces 
of saltpetre, and three pounds of moist sugar ; rubbing in the 
saltpetre, and, mixing the salt and sugar together, rubbing it 
also in thoroughly. Allow it to remain in a deep wooden 
trough or tub for six weeks, turning it every day, and bast- 
ing it with the liquor formed by the sugar, salt, and salt- 
petre. Take it out, dry it, and smoke it for three weeks. 

Bay or Lisbon salt, or salt formed by the gradual action 
of the winds and sun, is thought to impart a milder flavor to 
meat than manufactured salt. 

If you cure large quantities of pork, and your brine should 
become offensive with blood and slime, do not attempt to boil 
it over and skim and return it when cold, as is sometimes 
done ; such pickle, diluted with water, can be used on a gar- 
den. Make a fresh brine, and, after having scalded your 
tub with a strong lye made of wood-ashes, and then with 
hot water, wipe your bacon dry, removing all slime, and 



68 BALM. 

cover with your fresh pickle, poured on cold. Keep your 
bacon, while curing, under the brine by large weights or 
heavy stones. 

Saltpetre dries meat, and is not used in such large quan- 
tities as formerly. I have known many good housewives 
have their pork rubbed with half the salt intended to be 
used, and covered for a few days, and save the remainder of 
the salt to be rubbed in with the sugar and saltpetre. Mo- 
lasses is sometimes used for bacon instead of sugar. 

Hams are sometimes rubbed with salt for a day or two, 
and put into a brine strongly impregnated with wine and 
sweet herbs. This does very well for small hams, that are 
intended for immediate family consumption. 

Hams that are to be kept for some months, after being 
dried and smoked, should be 2:)ut into a coarse canvas bag 
and whitewashed, and hung in some cool and dry place. 

Bacon should be made only in the cool months. 

If there is no place where you can send your bacon to be 
smoked, you can smoke it (but of course imperfectly) by 
taking out the end of an old cask, and filling the cask half 
full of green sawdust, and branches of some odoriferous 
trees, and bits of oak bark, and putting in some hot ashes 
and bits of heated iron, and raising one part of the cask by 
placing a small stone under it, so as to make a draft of air. 
Put pieces of iron across, and hang the bacon over on pot- 
hooks or pieces of coarse rope. Cover it. Be careful that 
it merely smoulders and smokes, and does not ignite. 

The sugar-cured bacon of Virginia, and especially the 
hams, are justly entitled to their reputation. Their hogs 
mostly run about, and feed on acorns. 

BALM {Melissa officinalis). This herb mixed with 
honey and vinegar, steeped and strained, is sometimes used 
as a gargle for a sore and inflamed throat. It does not re- 



BARBERRY. 69 

tain its strength when dried, and is mostly used green. See 
Aromatic Herbs. 

BALM OF GILEAD. The buds of the Balsam or 
Balm of Gilead tree, gathered in spring and put into bottles 
with pure Jamaica spirits, are considered healing for bruises 
and cuts ; the same decoction, taken by the teaspoonful 
(put into a glass of water) before a meal, once a day, is said 
to afford relief when the system has become enervated by 
local difficulties. 

BANANA. The fruit of the West India Banana, if kept 
on ice, and brought to the table, after being washed in cold 
water, on grape-leaves, or a crimped napkin of undisputed 
whiteness laid upon a glass dish, makes an occasional vari- 
ety for dessert. Some people eat with it salt and pepper, 
others prefer wine and sugar. 

BANDBOX. This indispensable and much abused ar- 
ticle has improved in modern times. 'It now appears in 
wood, fitted up inside with a pasteboard form, which is se- 
cured by a slide for the hat or bonnet to rest upon. None 
others should be generally patronized. 

BANTAM. See Foivh. 

BARBERRY, or BERBERRY. The Barberry grows 
wild in America and Europe. It is easily cultivated. 
Trained to the single stem, the fruit grows larger, as the 
suckers are apt to render the fruit small, and the bush finally 
barren. It is grown from seed, layers, or suckers. There 
are several varieties. The Common Red grows large by cul- 
tivation in a rich soil. There are varieties of the common 
Barberry in Europe which bear pale yellow, white, and pur- 



70 BARBERRY. 

pie fruit, and which have the same properties as the com- 
mon Barberry, diiFeriiig only in color. There is a varie^ 
from Austria, called Sweet, but which is almost as acid as 
our common Barberry. The Common Ked has a variety 
which is seedless, and consequently desirable for preserves 
and jellies, but it does not appear to be a permanent variety, 
as the plants frequently bear fruit with seeds, and the suck- 
ers always; and it is said, that, in order to guard against 
this degeneration, the sort should be propagated by layers 
or cuttings. 

The Black Sweet Magellan Barberry is an evergreen 
from the Straits of Magellan, South America. It is rare, and 
has borne no fruit in this country as yet ; but it is thought 
it will prove hardy. It has yielded fruit in Edinburgh, said 
to be handsome and excellent. 

, The Nepal is a variety from Nepal, India, where it bears 
a purple fruit, which is there dried in the sun, like raisins, 
and used like them at the dessert 

The Mahonias, or Holly-leaved Berberries from Oregon, 
are very handsome ornamental shrubs, with fine green 
prickly leaves, and yellow flowers, but the fruit is of no 
value. 

t I am indebted for most of the above information to Mr. 
Downing's pleasing and valuable work. Fruit and Fruit- 
trees of America. 

There is a popular notion that the vicinity of Barberry 
bushes is unfavorable to the growth of grain, but it is unsup- 
ported by the weight of good evidence. 

The tannin principle is in the bark of the Barberry, and 
it dyes, combined with alum, a bright yellow. 

Barberry Jam. 

Pluck from the stem barberries that are quite ripe, mash 
them, and mix with them not quite a pound of good, clean 



BARK, PERUVIAN. 71 

brown sugar. Put the mixture into the preserving-kettle, 
and let it boil slowly for about three quarters of an hour, 
stirring and skimming it frequently ; then let it boil rapidly 
for a quarteiii of an hour, taking care, by frequent stirrings, 
that it does not adhere to the kettle. Put it warm into a 
glass or china jar, and cover closely. 

Barberry Jelly should be made of the stoneless variety, if 
it can be procured ; make it in the same manner as you pre- 
pare currant jelly. 

Barberry Preserve. 

Barberries are easily preserved by choosing some of the 
fairest fruit, tying it in clusters to sticks, and boiling it in sirup. 
I once undertook to extract the stones from Barberries for a 
preserve. It was very delicious, and happily did good ser- 
vice ; but as a general practice, it could only be recommended 
to Turkish women, who are said to employ their listless days 
in extracting seed from small fruits to be used in the manufac- 
ture of their sugar pastes. Sweet apples are sometimes pre- 
served with barberries, in molasses or sirup. It makes a 
homely preserve much relished by children. 

Hot water poured on preserved barberries, and allowed 
to cool, makes a grateful beverage for invalids. 

See under Pichles, for the manner of pickling barberries. 

BARK, PERUVIAN, Jesuit's Bark, Cinchona, or 
Quinquina. This bark was tested by the Jesuits while 
exploring South America. It is a valuable tonic, and a few 
doses administered in small quantities in the powdered state 
sometimes have a happy effect in cases of intermittent fever 
or ague. It is a useful dentifrice, if moderately used, giving 
hardness and a healthy tone to the gums, and imparting sweet- 
ness to the breath. 

A tincture of this bark is made by pouring on four ounces 



72 BARLEY. 

of the bark two pints of purest alcohol ; let it stand ten days, 
when it is to be carefully strained and bottled. It is an 
excellent and safe medicine taken in such proportions as 
circumstances authorize ; as a tonic and stomachic medicine, 
a spoonful some hours before each meal is generally a good 
rule. 

A decoction is also made with red wine, which is some- 
times given to children of weakly, rickety habits of constitu- 
tion. It is given in the forenoon and after dinner. 

Slight excoriations of the skin, induced by chafes, are fre- 
quently relieved by this pulverized bark. 

BARLEY (Lat. Hordeum) is an annual plant, but is 
often sown in autumn, when it ripens later, and is called 
Winter Barley. 

Two-Rowed Barley {Hordeum distichwii), or Common 
Barley, is the sjDCcies generally cultivated in the United 
States. It is considered the most valuable, on account of its 
full berry and its general freedom from smut ; it has numer- 
ous minor varieties, distinguished for some differences in the 
quality of the grain, for early or late ripening, or for more or 
less productiveness, features brought out perhaps by differ- 
ences in culture and climate. This grain, whose native home 
is traced from Egypt and Syria, as far back as three thou- 
sand years since, matures in favorable seasons on the Eastern 
Continent as far north as seventy degrees. In warm lati- 
tudes two crops are produced in a year. 

In the United States, the yield of Barley varies from thirty 
to fifty or more bushels per acre, weighing from forty-five to 
fifty-five pounds per bushel. 

Both in the United States and in Great Britain, this grain 
is grown chiefly for malt, and for the manufacture of spirit- 
uous liquors. In France it is used for corn-bread, while in 
some warm climates it is given to horses, and is said to be 
as good for this purpose as oats. 



BATHS. 73 

Pot Barley, Pearl Barley, and French Barley are only 
barley freed from the husk by the mill, the distinction be- 
tween them being the round, shot form of the Pearl Barley, 
which is caused by the sides of the grain being clipped off at 
the mill, leaving only the centre or heart. 

We seldom export barley from this country, being con- 
sumers rather than producers of the grain. The virtues of 
barley for medicinal purposes are of great antiquity. Hip- 
pocrates wrote a whole book on the merits of gruel made 
of barley. Barley Water is a pleasant liquid to administer 
medicine in. (Farmer's Encyclopaedia. Abstract of the Sev- 
enth Census.) 

BARLEY WATER. Take four large table-spoonfuls 
of well-picked and washed Pearl Barley, and put it into a 
porcelain-lined kettle, containing two quarts of boiling -water. 
Let it boil slowly till reduced to nearly one half the liquid. 
Strain it and season it with salt, and, if the patient's condition 
will admit of it, flavor it with white sugar and fresh lemon- 
juice. It is a grateful drink to invalids. See Soups. 

BASTING. A dripping. Different liquids and sub- 
stances that are used as corroboratives in roastinsr meats. 



o 



BATHS. All nations, in every stage of society, have 
indulged in the bath, from the savage tribes of North Amer- 
ica to the magnificent Roman of eighteen centuries back; 
nay, the savages imitated the refinements of bathing by throw- 
ing into the waters of caverns heated stones, to produce the 
vapor bath. 

No positive rules can be laid down with regard to the 
suitability of cold baths as a universal axiom. Feeble per- 
sons cannot always venture upon them, but should rather in- 
dulge in the tepid bath, which ranges from 60° to 97°. 
7 



74 BEANS. 

The foot-bath is often rendered stimulant, in cases'of sick- 
ness from colds, by the addition of a little mustard, or a little 
wood-ashes and salt. 

Sea-bathing, at a distance from the sea-shore, may be arti- 
ficially produced by dissolving bay-salt in fresh water. By 
this means the properties of salt water will be acquired, with 
the exception of sulphate of magnesia, which, however, is 
found in salt water only in small proportions. Dissolve one 
pound of bay-salt to each gallon of fresh water. 

Cold baths, where they can be safely taken either directly 
or by the compromise of the sponge, tend to invite a most 
wholesome state of health and spirits, and to lessen the 
liability of colds. Baths, especially cold baths, should never 
be taken directly after meals. 

BATTER. See Fritters and Puddings. 

BAY-SALT. Salt made of sea-water by the action of 
the winds and sun, and lodged in bays and similar gulfs. 
Bay-salt is in large cubes, moderately white. St. Ubes salt 
is considered very pure. (Farmer's Encyclopaedia.) 

BEANS. The Broad Beans (English Dwarfs), of which 
the Magazan is a nice variety, should be gathered fully 
grown, but young. Shell them just before you cook them. 
Boil them rapidly in salted water till the skin will yield 
to gentle pressure. A bit of ham is sometimes boiled with 
them, but it injures the purity of their color. Make a 
gravy of melted butter and pour over them. Parsley may 
be boiled, chopped, and put into the butter. Do not allow 
them to swim in butter, — it looks gross, — the gravy being 
merely for seasoning. Many good cooks prefer bits of fresh 
butter placed in the dish. 



BEANS. 75 

Lima Beans. 

Shell them while fresh, and boil them till tender in a full 
kettle of water with a little salt. Drain them, and put bits 
of butter over them. 

These beans are often preserved in Virginia through the 
winter, by packing them when ripe (towards the last of fall 
if convenient) into clean jars or kegs. Take a dry day foi 
the packing. Put a layer of beans in the pod into the keg oi 
jar, and sprinkle salt over them, repeating the process till the 
vessel or tub is filled. When to be cooked, the beans are 
freshened by washing the pods, and then soaking them in 
fresh water over night. Put them over the fire into cold 
water and boil till tender. 

Snap Beans. 

Gather them when young, snap off the stalks, and pull 
off the strings ; but do not break them, for if young they 
are nicer whole. Put them with a little salt into boiling 
water, and boil them for about fifteen minutes. Take them 
up and drain them in a colander. Put them into a dish with 
pieces of butter, or pour a little melted butter over them, or a 
made brown gravy. If the beans are old, put a bit of saler- 
atus in the water they are to be boiled in, and cut the beans, 
and boil them rapidly. Do not let them float in butter or 
gravy. 

WINTER DISH OF BAKED BEANS. 

This disli is generally considered too hearty for warm 
weather. Pick the beans, wash them, and put them to soak 
over night in a good deal of water. In the morning pour this 
water off, and put them into a kettle of cold water and let them 
simmer till quite tender. Take them up, and drain them 
through a colander ; when thoroughly drained, put them into 
a deep baking-pan with a large piece of scored salt-pork sunk 



76 BED-CLOTHES. 

to the rind. Pour boiling water over tliem, and bake five or 
six hours ; or if you have a good brick oven, keep them in 
over night. This constant change of water which is recom- 
mended has a tendency to diminish the flatulency of this 
vegetable, which too often induces gripings. 

BEDS. Modern practice eschews the luxurious feather 
bed, and mattresses made of wool for winter use, and of horse- 
hair for summer, are mostly considered desirable beds. But 
though these materials largely supply the market, palm-leaf, 
cut straw, cornstalks, and various mosses are often used for 
filling mattresses. Springs are inserted in nicely made hair- 
mattresses to give them elasticity. 

A large bed, to be comfortable, requires about sixty pounds 
of wool. If constantly used, it will need to be taken out 
every two or three years, carded, and a few pounds of wool 
added. Linen ticking is much nicer than cotton. Poland 
starch put on wet, and dried in the sun, will remove oil spots, 
and cleanse a ticking which may not need to be washed all 
over. 

Pillows and bolsters, whether filled with feathers, or stuffed 
with hair, should be generously plumped, both for econ- 
omy of wear and for comfort. Small pillows stuffed with 
hops sometimes quiet nervous headache, and induce sleep. 
Square pillows stuffed with horse-hair are prescribed for 
persons afflicted with weak or disordered eyes. 

BED-CLOTHES. Linen sheets, excepting for a New 
England winter are much to be preferred. Russia sheeting 
is very substantial in wear. Sheets should always be made 
a little larger than the bed they are to cover ; pillow and 
bolster cases should always fit easily. In covering pillows, 
a case of strong thick muslin slipped on before the linen one 
has a comfortable clad look. Pillow-cases are often made 



BEECH. 77 

for buttons and trimmed with a frill, the square ones be- 
ing trimmed on all the sides. 

Blankets Avhicli are not in use should be kept closely 
folded in Kussia sheeting, with bits of camphor, and put in 
some cool, dark closet, or packed in camphor trunks, if such 
are in the house. 

It is well, where it is convenient, to have the outside quilt 
correspond in quality and color with the carpet and curtains, 
and the general furniture of the room. Where bed-curtains 
are hung, they are generally of the same material as the 
outside coverlet. 

Stuffed coverlets, or poor man's blankets, as they are fre- 
quently called, are made sometimes of soft lawn from dresses 
that have been put aside, with a thin layer of all-Wool wad- 
ding, which comes now in sheets as cotton does. They are 
inexpensive, and are often grateful to invalids when heavier 
materials would be oppressive. I have seen a very nice 
stuffed coverlet, made of a dozen large East India silk 
pocket-handkerchiefs, each a yard square, filled with eider- 
down ; both sides were ahke, and the coverlet of a good size. 
It was very light and very warm. Silk dresses, when laid 
aside as dresses, make nice stuffed coverlets. 

BEECH (Fagifs sylvatica). This tree is one of the 
handsomest of Ensrland's forest-trees. It is native to the 
greater part of the North of Europe. The red and purple 
are seedling varieties of Fagus sylvatica. 

The Red Beech {Fagus ferrugined) decays when ex- 
posed to the extremes of moisture and dryness. It does not 
readily warp, and is much used for making tools, for which 
its hardness and smooth grain recommend it. 

Beech mast, or the nuts and seeds of this tree, yield on 
pressure an oil equal to the best olive-oil, and which keeps 
without acquiring a rancid taste longer than olive-oil. In 
7* • 



78 



BEEF. 



England, it was once much used in tlie place of butter. 
Roasted, the nuts have often formed a substitute for coffee. 
(Bigelow, Farmer's Encyclopaedia.) 

BEEF. The virtues of our ever-to-be respected ances- 
tors have always been largely attributed to the excellence of 
their beef. It is related of an old blunt English command- 
er, that at Cadiz he addressed his soldiers in these terms : 
" What a shame will it be to you, Englishmen, who feed upon 
good beef, to let those Spaniards beat you, that live upon 
oranges and lemons." 

By virtue of his extensive and constant experience, the 
London butcher must be installed as a judge from whom the 
wise will not appeal ; and his mode of cutting up a carcass 
is, I believe, followed in the main features in our large cities. 
The figure below represents the English mode of cutting up 
a carcass of beef. 




HIND QUARTER. 

I, loin or sirloin. 

r, rump. 

a b, aitch-bone. 

b, buttock or round. 

h, hock. 

y, thick flank. 

tf, thin flank. 

s, shin. 



FORE QUARTER. 

J'r, fore rib. 

m r, middle rib. 

c r, chuck rib. 

n, neck, clod, and sticking. 

b t, brisket. 

I m, leg-of-mutton piece. 

s, shin. 



BEEF. , 79 

The principal roasting-piece is I, the loin or sirloin ; r, the 
rump, is the favorite steak-piece, while h, the buttock or 
round, is very nice boiled, when corned, and is the piece 
chosen par excellence for the popular dish, beef d la mode. 
The flanks, (/, thick flank, and t f, thin flank) are also nice 
for boiling, when corned ; h, the hock, and s, the shin, make 
nice soups, and afford what is technically called stock, while 
t, the tail, is used for ox-tail soup. These are the pieces in 
the hind quarter. 

In the fore quarter, yr, fore rib, m r, middle rib, c r, chuck 
rib, are all roasting-pieces, but not of equal excellence. The 
part of the shoulder-blade of the middle rib being removed, 
the spareribs below make a good broil or roast, n, the neck, 
is used fresh for soup, and the back end of the brisket, h t, is 
boiled, corned, or stewed. I m, leg-of-mutton piece, is coarse, 
but is as frequently stewed as boiled, s, the shin, is used for 
the same purposes as the shin and hock of the hind quarter. 

It will be observed that the most valuable pieces, the roast- 
ing, are upon the upper part of the carcass ; and the inferior, 
the boiling, occupy the lower part. Every beast, therefore, 
that lays on beef on the upper parts of its body is more val- 
uable to the butcher, than one that lays the same quantity of 
flesh on its lower parts. (Stephens's Book of the Farm.) 

There is no difference in price between heifer and ox beef, 
both being equally well fed. The lean of ox-flesh has a 
brighter red, and the fat not so clear a white as heifer-beef, 
and it is generally thought a little richer than cow-beef. 
Good beef should have a tender feel, a bright red color in 
the lean parts, and be white in the fatty portions. 

A LA MODE Beep. 

Take a piece of the round of beef, eight or ten pounds, 
cut out the bone, and tie your beef in a handsome round 
shape ; with a small, sharp knife make incisions in the beef, 



80 BEEF. 

cutting deeply inside, but have the cut on the outside small. 
These holes are to be filled with the stuffing, which also is 
partly reserved for the force-meat balls. Put your beef into 
a large pot, so that it may lie flat, with water nearly sufficient 
to cover it ; season with salt, pepper, cloves, and one onion, 
a little sage, or any sweet herb you prefer. 

Let the beef boil slowly for two hours, then add a pint of 
red wine, a little tomato catchup, and then put in your balls, 
and keep them in for twenty minutes. If the gravy boils 
away, add a little water. 

Force-meat balls for the above are made thus : — Take a 
loaf of baker's flour-bread, grate it, add an equal quantity of 
beef-suet, chopped very fine ; season it highly with pepper, 
clove, salt, nutmeg or mace, cayenne, and sweet-marjoram. 
Wet the whole, after thorough mixing, with eggs. Roll them 
into small balls. If you wish to fry some of the balls, take 
but little butter, as the fat fries from them. 

This dish warms vp very nicely, especially if that which 
is left be covered, and allowed to lie in its gravy. 

Beef, Coened. 
Beef that is to be corned should be thoroughly rubbed with 
part of the salt intended for the pickle, covered closely, and 
allowed to remain for three days ; it is well, where it is possi- 
ble, to rub the salt in before the animal heat has " all gone 
by," the passage of the bloody slime being facilitated by a 
little animal heat. A mixture of rock or Liverpool and 
Bay salt is nicest for curing meats. After the meat has 
lain in the salt for three days, take it out and brush and 
wipe it with a damp cloth. Pack the pieces closely into a 
clean tub, and between each piece sprinkle salt, putting also 
salt on the bottom of the tub, and laying the fleshy parts 
downwards. Pour the pickle, prepared as below, when it is 
quite cold, over the whole, taking care to have the meat 



BEEF. 81 

kej^t covered with the pickle by great weights or stones, and 
excluded from the air by a wooden cover, or boards nailed 
closely together. 

P icicle for Beef. 

Take four gallons of water, to which add one pound and a 
half of sugar, five ounces of saltpetre, and six pounds of salt. 
Put the whole into a clean pot, and let it boil ; take off the 
scum constantly as it rises, remove the pot from the fire 
when the hquor looks clear, and when cold cover your meat 
with it. 

Another. 

To six gallons of water, put six quarts of Liverpool and 
Bay salt, three pounds of brown sugar, three ounces of salt- 
petre, one ounce of pearlash, and one gallon of molasses. 
Proceed as above. 

A salted round of beef, containing seventeen or eighteen 
pounds, requires to simmer slowly at least four hours. 
Brisket, of nine or ten pounds, should be boiled slowly, or 
simmered for three hours. 

Where a round or rump of beef is to be cured alone, it is 
frequently rubbed with mixed salts and spices, and basted 
with the brine every day for five or six weeks ; and it may 
be taken out and dried or boiled out of this pickle. 

Tongues. 

Tongues are cured in the same way. Bacon pickle, where 
it has been nicely prepared, will cure tongues after the hams 
have been removed. 

Tongues salted and dried are steeped in a weak brine, 
washed out, and rubbed with salt by the hand. Allow them 
to remain twenty-four hours in the salt, then wipe with a 
damp cloth, and rub again with salt and brown sugar. 
Cover them with pickle for a fortnight ; take them out, wipe 
them, rub them with bran, and make a hole through the root ; 



82 BEEF. 

pass a twine through it, and hang them in a cool, dark place 
after they have been smoked. Tongues, when fresh, require 
two hours to boil ; but if salted and dried, they will take from 
three to four hours, and will require to be soaked twenty- 
four hours, and the water to be changed at night. Salted 
meats must be put into a great deal of cold water when they 
are to be cooked, and simmered, and never boiled hard. 
For baked tongues, see Baked 3Ieats. 

Beef, Roasted. 
The sirloin, rib-pieces, and in small famihes the piece that 
is left from the rump after the steaks are cut off, are all 
roasted. The fire should be got well going, with a substantial 
constitution, before the meat is put down. Sometimes a 
backlog of tan, or wet ashes, thrown in at the back of the 
chimney, throws the heat in front. When the fire is to be 
stirred, the meat should be drawn aside, to escape the smoke 
and ashes. In the first stages of the roasting, place the tin- 
kitchen or roaster at a distance from the fire, and baste fre- 
quently with water, seasoned with a little salt. Meat should 
get thoroughly heated through before it begins to brown. 
Where beef is very fat, the dripping-pan may be emptied 
once or twice, and still enough remain to make the gravy. 
Beef dripping is very nice for frying potatoes and breakfast 
cakes, when it has been nicely clarified. As the meat as- 
sumes a rich brown, a little flour can be sifted over it from 
the dredging-box, but the meat must remain long enough to 
brown it. A sirloin weighing fifteen to eighteen pounds will 
take four hours of roasting ; but ribs of the same weight will 
be done in half an hour less. 

Beefsteaks. 
Beef for steaks, though it does not require to be mellowed 
by time so long as a large roasting-piece, eats tenderer for 
being three or four days old. 



BEEF. 83 

Rump steaks are preferred by many, but in New York 
steaks from the sirloin or sparerib are thought richer and 
more tender ; the bone is chopped away, and the fat par- 
tially trimmed. Steaks should be cut of an even thickness, 
and not quite an inch thick. Have a fire of clean, bright 
coals, heat the gridiron, and rub the bars with a little suet ; 
throw a very little salt over the coals, and do the steaks as 
quickly as possible, turning them quickly. Have your dish 
hot, and put pieces of fresh butter on the steak, with a little 
salt. If the beef is prime, no water or catchup will be 
required. Serve immediately while it is hot, and its rich 
juices will be honor enough for it. Twelve or fourteen min- 
utes will cook steaks of the above thickness. 

Beefsteak Pie. 
Cut steaks quite thin, and flatten them, turn them over in 
some mixed spices in which is a little pepper and salt, lay 
them in the bottom of the baking-dish, and place bits of 
boiled onion and fresh butter over them. (Omit the butter if 
the beef is well mixed with fat.) Fill the dish a little more 
than two thirds full, sprinkling onion between each layer of 
meat. Pour over the whole a pint of boiling water, highly 
seasoned with walnut catchup. Put the dish away to get 
cool, then cover it round the lid with paste, and cover with 
ornamented paste. It is well to have a centre ornament, 
that, when the pie is baked, can be removed, and aiford an 
opportunity, should it have baked dry, of adding fresh hot 
liquor before it goes to the table. Any pieces that have 
been left from a roast or steak will make this pie. 

Brisket op Beef. 

The Brisket of Beef may be boned and baked ; then it is 
laid in a deep pan, seasoned with salt and mixed spices, wal- 
nut or mushroom catchup, and a pint of port wine, and 
dredged with flour. Bake three hours. Skim the fat off. 



84 BEEF. 

It is also as frequently stewed. Boil it in just water 
enough to cover it ; when tender take out the bones, skim off 
the fat from the liquor it was boiled in, and season with salt, 
pepper, walnut catchup, and a little red wine ; thicken it with 
browned flour stirred into melted butter. Flour is browned 
by putting some over the fire in a flat dish, and stirring it till 
it is brown and of an even color. The butter softens the 
smoky taste that browned flour generally acquires. Pour 
the gravy hot over the meat, and garnish with carrots cut in 
thin slices and fried a delicate brown. 

Collared Beef. 

Take the thin flank, rub it thoroughly with salt and a little 
saltpetre, and let it drain over night. In the morning wash 
it, cut out the gristle, and remove the outer and inner skin. 
Pound a little clove very fine, mix with it salt, pepper, and 
a little sugar, rub the mixture thoroughly in, and let it re- 
main over a week in the pickle that will make, turning and 
basting it every day. Take it out of the pickle and roll it 
up as tight as possible ; bandage with strips of strong cloth, 
and tie these with tape. Put it into cold water and let it 
simmer for five or six hours. When done, place it between 
boards, and press it with heavy weights until perfectly cold. 
This is usually sliced cold ; the ends should be trimmed when- 
ever sent to the table whole. 

Hashed Beef. 

Hashes are generally made of cold meat. Cut away all 
the gristle and the burnt pieces, and let the slices remain in 
the juices of the meat. If you have no ready-made stock, 
prepare a broth from the bones and outside pieces ; strain it 
through a coarse sieve, and season it with some catchup, pep- 
per, and salt ; heat it again, and stir the meat into it just be- 
fore it is sent to the table, allowing it only time enough to 



BEEF. 85 

heat through. Cut the meat into such pieces as suits con- 
venience, either in mouthfuls or shces ; but they should not 
be thick. Garnish with bread cut in the form of dice, and 
fried in strained beef dripping, or with toasted bread soaked 
in the broth. 

Beef Heart. 

Cut the heart, and put it to soak in water, that the blood 
may ooze out. Wipe it, and trim it, cutting the lobes out ; 
make a stuffing of grated baker's bread, spices, and salt, wet 
with eggs ; stuff the heart, and sew it up. Roast it with pa- 
per over it. A large heart will take two hours and a half 
to cook. 

Beef Liver. 

Be sure that it is fresh. Soak it in cold water a few 
minutes. Take it out and wipe it dry. Fry out rashers 
of salt-pork, and lay slices of the liver, cut three quarters of 
an inch in thickness, in the frying-pan, and fry them slowly 
till they are brown. Beef kidneys are served in this way, 
excepting that butter is used instead of pork, and when they 
are browned, a catchup sauce is poured over them hot. 

Minced Beef. 

Cut the beef very fine, and take potatoes enough to 
make one third of the dish, mash themi smoothly with a lit- 
tle cream or melted butter, and stir them into the meat with 
a little pepper and salt. Moisten the whole with beef gravy 
or dripping, which has been nicely strained. Put it into a 
small kettle, and let it brown. This dish is made from the 
debris of roast meat. 

Beef kidneys may be minced very fine, and seasoned 
highly with pepper and salt, and fried brown in butter, 
put in a hot dish, and a gravy seasoned with walnut catchup 
poured over them. 

8 



86 BEES. 

Pressed Beef. 
The brisket, flank, and thin part of the ribs are the pieces 
which are pressed. Take out the bones, salt and season 
the piece with such spices as you prefer, and let it lie about 
a week closely covered. Boil it slowly till tender, take it 
from the pot, and press it under heavy weights till cold. It 
sends the juices through the beef, and by remaining pressed 
till cold cuts in thin slices. 

Beef Udder. 
This is eaten in Virginia, either boiled fresh and cut in 
slices when cold, and served with salt and mustard, or it is 
salted for a day or two and eaten cold. It is sometimes 
boiled, chopped fine, and used for stuffings. 

BEES. ThcfeC little creatures love thyme, mignonette, 
alyssum, and honeysuckle. Hives should never be placed 
in a roofed stand ; it heats the bees, and frequently induces 
them to form on the outside of their hives. They should be 
placed in a sheltered part of the garden, but with sufficient 
space around them to allow the attacks of their depredators 
to be seen and warded offi If no water is near, place shal- 
low pans near the hives with water and a little salt, and 
have bits of stick float on the surface, to prevent the bees 
drowning by slipping from the sides of the vessel. In the 
early spring, and late in autumn, before you house them for 
winter, they must be fed. For this purpose, put to a quart 
of beer one pound of sugar, and boil it five minutes only. 

Never destroy bees. They live only one year, and in 
killing them, the young bees that would work in the spring 
are lost. The year-old bees die in August, By smoking 
the bees with tobacco while working upon a hive, they are 
rendered harmless. Sticks in the hive are useless and in- 
convenient. 



BEER. 87 

If stung, extract the sting, apply immediately sweet oil, 
laudanum, or Goulard's extract, which is a preparation used 
for inflammations, and so called from the inventor. (Farm- 
er's Encyclopaedia.) 

BEESWAX. This substance has been classed with veg- 
etable matters ; but the experiments of Huber have shown 
that it is produced by the bees themselves, and not gathered 
by them directly from plants. When the honey is drained 
from the wax, it can be purified for domestic uses by tying 
it with something heavy in a bag, and putting the bag into 
a pot of clear cold water. As the water heats, the wax will 
be thrown to the surface. Skim it off, and place it in sau- 
cers, and expose it to the light and air, and occasionally wet 
it with water, till it is whitened or bleached. 

Bayberry, Candleberry, or Myrtle wax {Myrica ceri- 
fera) is a harder substance than beeswax, obtained from the 
berries of the myrtle by boiling them in water. (Bigelow.) 

BEER. Though beer is chiefly made of malt and hops, 
there are some simple beverages in which only the latter is 
used, and others in which a substitute for hops is found. 

Children's Beer. 

To three spoonfuls of ginger pour a bucketful of boiling 
water. Allow it to cool, then add to it one pint of good 
yeast, and one pint of molasses. Cover it with a coarse 
cloth, and let it stand in a cool place. Bottle in the even- 
ing. 

Molasses-Beer. 

Put to six gallons of soft water six pints of West India 
molasses and a handful of hops tied in a muslin bag, and 
let it boil twenty minutes. When it has cooled, put to it a 
pint of lively beer yeast. Cover the beer with a coarse cloth, 



88 BLACKBERRY. 

and when it has done fermentmg, pour it off into clean bot- 
tles, and stop with good cork-wood corks. See Ale. 

BEETS. Beets are boiled till tender, to be eaten with 
salt cod-fish. Wash, and, without scraping, boil them whole. 
They are used to ornament salads. They make, when boiled, 
and put into vinegar, either sliced or whole, a cheap and 
wholesome pickle. When quite small they may be boiled 
with the leaves for greens. See under Art of Gardening. 

BERGAMOT. The well-known oil or essence of berga- 
mot, which is imported from the South of Europe, is extract- 
ed from the rind of the fruit Citrus hergamia, which grows 
on a moderate-sized tree that bears small white flowers, 
and fruit of a pyriform shape and pale yellow color. The 
rind is filled with oil-vesicles. (Farmer's Encycloptedia.) 

BIRD-PEPPEE.. A variety of Capsicum, sometimes 
called Bird's-bill, or Long Red. It yields Cayenne pepper 
when dried and pulverized. 

BLACKBERRY. The Bramble is native to this coun- 
try. The varieties esteemed for the table, and sometimes 
cultivated, are, — 

High Bush (Ruhus villosus). This bush grows four or 
five feet high, produces white flowers, and its berries have a 
spirited piquancy. 

Low Bush {Ruhus Canadensis), or Trailing Blackberry. 
A trailing prickly shrub, throwing out, as the above, white 
blossoms. The fruit is sweet, but has hardly so much spirit 
as the first. 

The soil should be well worked, and enriched with ashes, 
leaves, and vegetable mould, besides other fertilizers, to 
produce handsome fruit. Propagate by seed and by off- 



BLANCMANGE. 89 

shoots at the root. Cut away old wood, and cuhivate the 
new. (Cole's American Fruit Book.) 

There is a variety which yields white fruit, but it is rarely 
seen. 

Blackberry Cordial. 
. Take fine, ripe fruit, rejecting, as you pick them over, 
those of reddish hue ; squeeze these berries through a flan- 
nel bag. To a quart of juice put one pound of best loaf- 
sugar. Put it into a stone-jar and let it remain three days, 
the first day stirring it frequently. On the fourth day strain 
through a sieve, and to a quart of the juice add a quart of 
brandy. Bottle for use. This is excellent for summer dis- 
orders, if taken in moderate quantity, and repeated occasion- 
ally. See Jelly. 

BLACKING. Liquid or paste, for blacking and polishing 
boots and shoes. 

Liquid Blacking. 

"Wet four ounces of ivory-black with a table-spoonful of 
sweet oil, mix it to a smooth paste, beat into it gradually 
four spoonfuls of molasses ; add to this one half-pint of good 
vinegar, one half-ounce of oil of vitriol, one ounce of laven- 
der-water, mixing well as you proceed, and, lastly, the juice 
of one lemon. 

BLANCMANGE. One ounce of Russia isinglass is suf- 
ficient for one quart of milk, but the other kinds will require 
half an ounce more to each quart. Let the isinglass be 
dissolved in as little water as possible, taking care that it 
does not burn, and that it is a transparent liquid ; stir it into 
a quart of milk ; season it with rose-water and a stick of cin- 
namon, and sweeten to your taste ; put it into a porcelain ket- 
tle, and let it boil. Strain it through a flannel jelly-bag, and 
8* 



90 BOILING. 

put it into moulds. If you wish the coloring of corn, beat 
the yolks of two eggs lightly, and stir them to one pint of 
milk. 

Blancmange appears in a vast variety. It may be made 
of rice, swelled in hot water, and boiled in rich milk to a 
mash ; it is often made of calves' feet stock, of sparkling gela- 
tine, and many preparations of isinglass, and flavored with 
vanilla, chocolate, or what you please. 

Moulds should be left damp with cold water before putting 
in the blancmange. A cloth dipped in hot water is some- 
times laid over the bottom of the mould where there is any 
difficulty about its turning out. See Almond Blancmange. 

BOILING. Meat, whether fresh or salted, smoked or 
dried, should always be put into cold water ; the only excep- 
tions being with fowls and white meats, where the water may 
have the chill taken off, and salted meat that does not require 
to be much freshened. Dried meats and fish must be 
soaked for several days before they are boiled. 

The delicacy of meats, and their integrity of color, are 
greatly preserved by the constant removal of the scum which 
is thrown up in boiling. It is a good way when it makes 
its strongest appearance to throw in a little cold water, and 
bring it to a mass, and take the pot off and carefully remove 
it ; if any adheres after the meat is boiled, dip a cloth in hot 
water and wipe it off. Kever pierce meat that is boiling 
with a fork ; th^ juices escape. 

Pot liquor, or the water in which meat has been boiled, is 
useful for stock, especially that in which fresh lamb, mutton, 
or poultry has been boiled. 

Boil or simmer meat slowly, particularly after the scum 
has risen generously. 

Dried and salted meats require twice the time to cook that 
fresh meat takes. 



BORAX. 91 

Cabbage and greens are often cooked witb corned beef. 
"Where the liquor is to be used afterward^ such vegetables 
may be boiled in a separate pot, and some of the pot liquor 
of the meat may be transferred to the vessel they are boiled in. 

Old hams should be soaked twelve hours before boiling 
them, the water frequently changed, and when boiled, they 
should be put into a large pot filled with water. 

BONNY-CLABBER. In New England, milk soured 
to this form is administered to poultry and to pigs ; in warmer 
latitudes we have seen it served up, while fresh, with nut- 
meg, sugar, and wine. Under such treatment, and placed in 
dehcate china, it makes a pretty dish, and eats well on a hot 
day. 

BOOK-MUSLIN. These muslins are popular for dresses, 
because they do up nicely, and can be worn a few times be- 
fore being washed. They should be of a good white, for 
blue whites, whether for bonnets or dresses, are unbecoming 
even to the young and lovely. 

In washing this muslin, prepare a warm suds made of 
white bar-soap, and squeeze it gently through two or three 
of these suds, and rinse in pure water as many times ; lastly, 
put it through a thin starch-water. Pick it carefully apart, 
and hang it in the sun, over a dry white sheet. Take it in, 
sprinkle it evenly, and fold it in a white towel, and let it re- 
main some hours in the clothes-basket. When you take it 
out, clap it with your hands to clear-starch it, as it is techni- 
cally called, and iron before it is too dry, on the wrong side. 

BORAX. This salt is sometimes efficacious in correcting 
cutaneous eruptions. Dissolve an ounce of borax in a quart 
of water, and with a soft sponge bathe the face, night and 
morning. 



92 BOX-WOOD. 

The eruption induced by the working of a small insect 
under the skin has been removed by rubbing the flour of 
sulphur on the face with the finger, every morning, while the 
face is still damp with the morning bath, and afterward dust- 
ing it off with soft linen. 

BOX- WOOD. The Box-tree (Buxics sempervirens) is 
from the South of Europe. Its wood, of yellowish color and 
compact, hard grain, is employed for musical wind-instru- 
ments and mathematical instruments. Wood engravings are 
also cut in this wood. The surface is planed with great care, 
the design being drawn upon this smooth surface with a 
black lead pencil. The pencillings are left in relief, gravers 
or chisels of different sizes being employed to cut away the 
spaces between the pencil-lines. The wood is cut across the 
grain into pieces of the height of common types, to increase 
the strength and durability of the engraving. These blocks 
may be inserted in a page with common types, and printed 
without extra expense. They are very durable, and can, 
if required, be multiplied by the process of stereotyping. 
(JBigelow.) 

Wood-engraving owes its modern revival to ancient excel- 
lence to Thomas Bewick. Cross-hatching, as practised by 
Albert Durer and the old engravers, had fallen into disuse, 
j)robably from the amount of time and labor required for its 
execution, and was even forgotten when Bewick introduced 
gradation of shade and variety of tints, consequently more 
natural perspective, by leaving certain parts of his block 
less prominent than such as were to produce the strongest 
lines, taking care, however, that all the lines should give an 
impression upon the paper which was to take the picture. By 
such means he attained the delicacy of gradation to be found 
in copperplates. 

The ease with whicli wood-engravings can be set in with 



BRAWN. 93 

type, and the number of impressions that a block gives with- 
out being recut, are among its advantages ; a good wood-cut 
often yields fifty thousand impressions. (Pursuit of Knowl- 
edge, Art. Bewick.) 

BRANDY. Brandy is often obtained by the distillation 
of wine ; at its greatest strength it contains between forty 
and fifty per cent of water. The best brandies, says Davy, 
seem to owe their flavor to a peculiar oily matter, formed 
probably by the action of tartaric acid upon alcohol. The 
Cogniac brandies contain prussic acid. (Farmer's Encyclo- 
paedia. ) 

BRASS. This metal consists of copper and zinc. There 
are various ways of , cleaning brass. A solution of oxalic acid 
is frequently applied ; but from its being a virulent poison, 
there is always an uneasiness experienced in having it used. 
I have always found brass kept clean longest by being well 
rubbed with rotten-stone wet with sweet oil, and then rubbed 
with dry, pulverized rotten-stone. Whiting has merely a 
temporary effect on brass. Bits of wash-leather and silk are 
good for the final polishing. 

BRAWN. This preparation is often sold in the market. 
Many persons prefer to have it home-made. 

Take the head and feet of a hog that have been nicely 
cleaned ; have the head cut apart and the ears taken off 
and cut. Put the whole into a pot and boil them till they 
are quite tender and fall from the bones. Take the meat 
out into a large deep dish ; cut it with a sharp knife till it is 
quite fine, removing every bone and gristly piece. Season 
this mince highly with salt, pepper, and a little finely pounded 
clove and pulverized sweet herbs, mixing all well together. 
Tie the mince in a large, thick cloth, and hang it with a dish 



94 BREAD. 

under it near the kitchen fire, and let it drain. When it has 
done dripping, set it away in a cool place, but not where it 
will freeze.- This is sliced cold, and eaten with mustard. It 
will keep, if the cloth is kept around it, several weeks. 

When the water is cold that the meat has been boiled in, 
skim the liquor ; top-fat nicely clarified being useful to fry 
griddle-cakes or vegetables. The remainder of the liquor is 
nice in a veal or pork pot-pie. 

BREAD. Stir into a quart of water which has been 
made a little warm, a cup of yeast, and sifted flour enough 
to make a batter tolerably thick. Let it rise. In summer, 
if yeast and flour are good, it will rise in about six hours ; in 
winter, though covered near the fire, it will take nearly 
twice the time. When the batter has risen, have ready 
half a pound of sifted meal, which has boiled with a little 
salt and a pint of water for over an hour ; stir into the meal 
a piece of butter the size of a goose's egg ; mix it into the 
batter, with flour enough to make it stiff, and beat it with 
a strong spoon for a long time very hard. Let it stand 
five hours, or less time if it rises well. Knead it well, 
and bake. 

Yeast for the above may be made thus : — Two quarts of 
water, one handful of hops ; pare a potato and boil it dry ; 
stir into two cups of sifted flour a very little cold water; 
strain your hop-water on to the flour, stirring it all the while ; 
mash the potato very fine, and add it to the flour ; one spoon- 
ful of clean sugar may be put to it, and when cool enough 
add a little yeast to make it rise. 

Milk Yeast Bread. 

One pint of new milk, one pint of boiling water ; stir in 
flour enough to make a thick batter. Set this to rise in a 
place where it will be kept quite warm. As soon as it is 



BRITANNIA. 95 

well risen, mix this batter into dough for bread. Shape it 
into rolls or loaves as you please, and let it rise for twenty 
minutes, and then bake it. 

"Wheat Bread. 

One quart of unsifted wheat-meal, one pint and a half of 
water, made a httle warmer than rain-water, a salt-spoon 
of salt, half a teacupful of molasses, one gill of yeast, two 
teaspoonfuls of saleratus, and one cup of rich milk. Knead 
it well, and add a little sifted meal to make it of proper 
consistency, being careful, however, not to have it by any 
means stiff. 

It is well to get new wheat, as it bakes better. Bake 
seasonably, or this mixture will become tart. It is nice 
baked in muffin-rings on a buttered tin sheet in a quick 
oven. 

The best flour is always cheapest, both as regards health 
and actual measurement. Yeast should be made often, and 
the yeast-jug kept sweet by being scalded each time before 
fresh yeast is put in. Brewer's yeast is much stronger than 
home-made yeast, and a large spoonful is sufficient for one 
quart of flour. If dough is thought to have become acid, a 
httle saleratus must be kneaded in ; but as little saleratus 
should be used as possible in making bread. 

BREWIS. Pour milk over crusts of bread, and let 
them soak for a few minutes ; boil them in the milk for 
twenty minutes. Stir in, just before you take it up, a small 
piece of butter. 

BRITANNIA. There being both lead and copper in 
this metal, when used for teapots it should be nicely scalded, 
wiped dry, and the cover left open on being set away in the 



96 BROILING. 

closet. The outside is cleansed with a paste made of rotten- 
stone and oil, applied with a flannel rag, washed off with a 
suds made of white soap, then wiped dry, and polished with 
whiting, applied with wash-leather or soft linen. 

BROCCOLI. This vegetable is cooked much in the 
same way as cauliflower. See CauUJiower. 

BROILING. The fire should be burned down into 
clear coals, free from smoke, when the delicate task of broil- 
ing is undertaken. Before the gridiron goes over, sprinkle 
a little salt on the coals. Beef-steaks are generally cut 
three quarters of an inch thick. In broiling it is necessary 
to keep turning the steak that the juices may remain in. 
Steak-tongs are convenient for turning ; where a fork is 
used, it should be placed in the fatty portions to turn the 
meat. Remove the meat when the fat catches till the blaze 
is out. 

The gridiron, both on the upper and lower side, should 
be kept scrupulously clean. Before a steak is put on, the 
gridiron should be heated for about five minutes, or till 
quite hot, and rubbed with beef-suet for meat, and with 
chalk when fish is to be broiled. It is well to have one 
gridiron for meat and poultry, and another for fish. Double 
gridirons are kept closed till the steak is done. A beef- 
steak three quarters of an inch thick takes from twelve to 
fifteen minutes to cook. Sprinkle a little pepper and salt 
over as you put it down. When done, have the dish hot 
you put it into, but not so hot as to dry the gravy. Put 
bits of butter into the dish. The best of beef-steak requires 
no catchup. 

Kidneys when broiled should be skewered, to prevent their 
turning with heat, as must also chickens and pigeons, and 
be taken off occasionally and rubbed with butter tied in 



BUCKWHEAT. 97 

a muslin bag, and when dished, sprinkled with salt and 
pepper. 

Veal and lamb cutlets should be cut half an inch thick, 
and may be dipped in egg and bread-crumbs. 

Mutton-chops are broiled much as beef-steaks, excepting 
that mushroom sauce is often used. 

Pork-steaks are not cut so thick as beef or mutton, and 
they take longer time in cooking, and require a hot fire. 
They may, previously to going on to the gridiron, be rubbed 
with pulverized sage, pepper, and salt. 

BUCKTHORN (Rhamnus catharticus). The shrub used 
for hedge-rows. The juice of the unripe berries yields the 
color known as sap-greeriy used principally in water-colors. 

BUCKWHEAT. This plant, says Professor Low, be- 
longs to a family, the Polygonece or Dock tribe, which is 
known to farmers as affording a class of common weeds. 

Of the genus Polygonum there are two species cultivated 
in Europe for their seeds : — 

1. Common Buckwheat, Polygonum Fagopyrum. 

2. Tartarian Buckwheat, Polygonum tataricum. 

The first is the species commonly cultivated. The latter 
is of larger growth, and is said to be more hardy ; but it 
is less productive of seeds than the Common Buckwheat. 
A third species is cultivated in China and Chinese Tartary, 
Notch-seeded Buckwheat, Polygonum emarginatiim, which 
resembles the Common Buckwheat in its habit of growth. 
All these species are annual. 

Common Buckwheat bears white flowers, tinged with red. 
Its stem is full of knots, and rises to the height of two feet 
or more. The plant is of rapid growth, continues to flower 
long, and bears at the same time flowers and ripened seeds. 
(Elements of Agriculture.) 
9 



98 BUCKWHEAT. 

On account of an increasing demand for this grain, it is 
much more cultivated in the United States than formerly. 
In some of the Western States the yield per acre has been 
stated as reaching twenty-five, thirty, and even fifty bushels. 
In New England it is often cultivated successfully. It grows 
best an the lighter soils. Birds are apt to attack Buck- 
wheat, and the young plants are sometimes injured by frost. 
The seeds of the Buckwheat are given to horses, to hogs, 
and to poultry. 

In the United States its use as a breadstuff is almost 
entirely limited to cakes. 

Buckwheat Cakes. 

Take a quart of warm w^ater, (milk, if to be had, is better,) 
put a little salt to it, and stir in enough buckwheat flour to 
make a thin batter. After it is smoothly mixed, add six 
table-si^oonfuls of home yeast, or half this quantity of brew- 
er's yeast. Set this batter where it will be kept a little 
warm over night. In the morning stir in about a salt- 
spoonful of soda or saleratus, and a large spoonful of sirup 
or molasses. Put them in just before the griddle is ready 
for the batter. The molasses is thought to make the cakes 
fry a delicate brown, and to crisp the edges. 

The griddle should be merely greased enough to keep the 
cakes from sticking ; a bit of white rag is sometimes tied 
on a fork, and from time to time wet with a little lard, or 
the griddle may be rubbed with a piece of salt pork. Buck- 
wheat cakes should be made very thin, and served in the 
course of the meal, from time to time, hot from the griddle. 

These cakes are sometimes mixed without yeast, where 
they are wanted before the batter could rise. In such cases 
you dissolve in warm water a teaspoonful of carbonate of 
soda, and stir it in the batter ; then dissolve in warm water 
a teaspoonful of tartaric acid, and stir this in also. You 



BUDDING. 99 

may use a quart of warm water or milk to make the cakes 
by this receipt. 

BUDDING. The practice of inserting buds into trees 
is a more common way of grafting than any other method 
adopted in the United States. Its chief advantages are the 
rapidity with which it can be performed, the length of time 
in which it can safely be undertaken, and the harmlessness of 
the trial, which, if the budding fails, can be repeated on the 
same stock without any detriment. 

Budding is particularly preferred for stone fruit, such 
as Peaches and Apricots, which are more easily budded 
than grafted. The operation is performed from the first of 
July to the middle of September, when the bark of the stock 
slips up or separates readily from the wood, and the buds 
of the current year's growth are a little plump, and the 
young wood is growing healthily. A budding-knife is used. 
This knife is about four and a half inches lonjr, has a round 
blade, and an ivory handle finished at the end with a thin, 
rounded edge, called the liaft. This knife must he kept 
very sharp. A substitute for the knife is sometimes found 
by cutting a piece of hard wood into a thin taper form. 

Previous to budding, what is technically called a stick of 
huds is selected, that is, taking a cutting from a healthy tree, 
clipping off imperfect buds at the lower end, and such as 
may be young and immature at the upper end, leaving 
firm, healthy single buds, double buds being fruit-buds. 
Trim off the leaves, but not too closely, for the footstalks 
are convenient in handling the buds. Have pieces of soft 
matting or yarn ready to tie round the buds. Bass matting, 
soaked in water till flexible, is often used. 

Shield or T budding is the method generally practised. 
This consists in making a cut through the bark with your 
budding-knife an inch or an inch and a half long, and at 



100 BUDDING. 

the top of this making a cross cut, so that the incisions form 
a T. Now cut very carefully from your stick of buds a 
smooth, thin bit of wood and bark containing a bud. In- 
sert this bud to the bottom of the incision, under the bark. 
If on being pushed gently, as directed, the bud projects 
above the horizontal slit, trim it carefully to make it fit. 
Bandage it carefully with soft matting, leaving only the bud 
and the footstalk of the leaf exposed to the light. 

If the bud takes, in about two weeks there will be a 
plumpness that will indicate the union of the bud with the 
stock ; if it has, however, failed, provided the bark peels 
readily, a fresh trial may he made. In about a fortnight, 
if the operation have been perfected, the bandage may be 
loosened, and if the stock has swelled much, it may be 
removed entirely, though, where the budding is performed 
late in the season, the bandage is sometimes left on for the 
winter. 

In the following spring, the buds having swollen, the stock 
is headed down with a sloping back within two or three 
inches of the bud, and the shoots of the stock, or " rob- 
bers," as they are styled, must be removed from time to 
time. (Downing's Fruits and Fruit-trees of America.) 

The same excellent authority from whom we take the 
above also remarks, that, to secure the upright growth of 
the bud, and to prevent its being broken by the winds, it is 
tied when a few inches long to that portion of the stock left 
for the purpose, removing this support in midsummer when 
the shoot appears strong, and cutting away the superfluous 
portion of the stock, which will be rapidly covered with 
young bark after being thus smoothly trimmed. 

Mr. Knights's mode of tying with two distinct bandages is 
also recommended by Mr. Downing, one covering the part 
below the bud, and the other the portion above it. In this 
case, Mr. Downing has said, " the lower bandage is removed 



BUNNS. 101 

as soon as the bud has taken, and the upper left for two or 
three weeks longer. This, by arresting the upward sap, 
completes the union of the upper portion or bud, (which in 
Plums frequently dies, while the lower part is united,) and 
secures success." 

BUFFALO-BERRY, or SHEPHERDIA. This shrub, 
with its beautiful silvery leaves, bears a small berry, which 
makes a good preserve. The trees are male and female, and 
are set in pairs from six to ten or fifteen feet apart. (Cole's 
American Fruit Book.) 

BUNNS. These cakes are thought to have the sanction 
of antiquity, being named from a kind of sweet, light cake 
offered to the gods, and called Bonn. Leaving such investi- 
gations to the curious, we would only remark that the term 
Cross-bunns is said to owe its origin to the habit which once 
prevailed in England, of marking this cake, when baked on 
Good Friday, with the sacred symbol of the Cross. 

Common bunns are made of a light, sweetened dough, 
risen by yeast and warm milk. After it is risen, a little 
melted butter and warm milk is a.dded, the dough is dusted 
with flour, and allowed to rise for half an hour, when it is 
shaped into small cakes, put on to buttered tins, and allowed 
to rise for another half-hour. Glaze them with w^hite of egg 
and put them into a quick oven. You may, if you please, 
stir well-cleaned Zante currants into the dough. 

*The following receipt is a very good one for making these 
cakes : — 

Three quarters of a pound of flour, one quarter of a pound 
of butter, beaten to a light creamy consistency, one quarter 
of a pound of white sifted sugar, one half-pint of new milk, 
one wineglass of fresh yeast, three eggs beaten very lightly, 
one teaspoonful of powdered mace, cinnamon, and nutmeg 
9 * 



102 BURNS. 

mixed together, one wineglass of brandy, wine, and rose- 
water stirred together. 

Stir the spice into the butter, then add the flour and 
sugar, stirring them in alternately with the well-beaten eggs. 
Add the wineglass of brandy, wine, and rose-water, and last- 
ly, stir in the half-pint of milk, to be followed immediately 
by the wineglass of fresh yeast. When risen, bake in but- 
tered tins, moulding the dough into the bunn form, and glaz- 
ing with sugar and white of egg. 

-BURNS. To keep the air from the burn or scald, cover 
immediately with cotton-batting, and then pour over the cot- 
ton sweet olive-oil. If the accident is serious, administer a 
gentle cathartic, and keep the diet low, unless there is weak- 
ness and sinking, when wine and a teaspoonful of tincture of 
Peruvian bark may be given from time to time. 

Spirits of turpentine is sometimes applied, but it is too 
powerful a stimulant for most persons. I have known of 
flour being put over the skin of a child who had received a 
severe scald. It is light and excludes the air. 

For cooling applications, pounded ice put in a flat bag of 
thin oil-silk or tied in a bladder, and lime-water mixed with 
the same quantity of linseed-oil, are exceedingly grateful, the 
latter being put on with a very soft sponge or linen rag, 
bathing the affected skin gently, without rubbing. Where 
the weight of it can be supported, a fine Indian-meal poultice 
can be made, with hyson tea thrown over it, pouring on hot 
water enough to moisten and soften the leaves. Renew tRe 
poultice when dry by a fresh one prepared in the same way. 

Vinegar will sometimes relieve the pain of a burn, and a 
solution of sugar of lead applied with a soft sponge or rag to 
the injured parts is sometimes beneficiah 

BUTTER. This substance is made by churning cream 



BUTTER. 103 

alone, or by churning the milk and cream togetlicr. Taking 
it for granted that the milk-dishes are kept religiously clean, 
and sciilded as soon as the milk is removed with boiling water, 
that the milk is taken from a healthy, well-fed cow, and is 
not impregnated with garlic or turnip flavor, we proceed at 
once to the operation of making butter. 

Cream makes the richest butter, though of course the 
larger quantity is obtained when the milk is also used. Milk 
may be skimmed after standing undisturbed in the milk-room 
twenty-fom', and in cool weather thirty hours. Put it in a 
stone vessel until a sufficient quantity of cream is collected 
to churn. Milk-pans should be of tin, the enamel of earthen- 
ware often containing poisonous matters, whose properties are 
disengaged by the acid of milk. 

Many experiments have been instituted, particularly in 
England and Scotland, by both practical and learned socie- 
ties and individuals, to demonstrate the desirable temperature 
of cream to bring butter of the best quality and greatest 
quantity. Accepting the results of these experiments, we 
find that butter produced from cream at a low temperature 
is superior both in quahty and quantity ; that, put into the 
churn at 52°, it may be raised to 60° before the operation is 
finished, but on no account can, with impunity, exceed Qo° ; 
and that 60° is the desirable mean, while if it be under 50° 
the labor will be increased without any proportional benefit 
being reaped. 

"When the butter has gathered, put it into cold water, and 
be*at it with the hand or a wooden butter-spaddle until the 
buttermilk is entirely out, and the water freshly poured over 
comes off colorless. When the buttermilk is thus worked 
out, take half the salt you intend to use for your butter, and 
work it in with your hand, keeping your hand cool by dip- 
ping it in ice-water or very cold water. Salt should be thor- 
oughly incorporated as soon as the butter is relieved of but- 



104 CABBAGE. 

termilk, and can be best worked in by the hand. Let it stand 
covered closely for twenty-four hours, then work in your in- 
gredients for final seasoning. For many years I have used 
one ounce of the following mixture for every pound of butter, 
taking half of the salt out, and applying it as above. Two 
ounces of the purest salt (Bay salt is best), one ounce of 
loaf-sugar, a little less than three quarters of an ounce of 
saltpetre, pounded very fine, and worked in with the hand. 
Summer butter requires more salt than butter made late in 
autumn. The firkin in which butter is to be packed should 
be of sweet wood, or unglazed stone-ware may be used. Lay 
salt basted in thin muslin over the butter after it is packed 
down very hard. • 

I shall conclude my remarks on this important subject by 
quoting the following from Johnson's Farmer's Encyclopaedia 
on the manner of making butter in Devonshire, England : — 
" In Devonshire the method of making is peculiar to the 
county. The milk is placed in tin or earthen pans (each 
holding about eleven or twelve quarts), and placed on an 
iron plate over a small furnace. The milk is not boiled, but 
heated until a thick scum arises to the surface ; if, when a 
small portion of this is removed, bubbles appear, the milk is 
removed, and suffered to cool. The thick part is then taken 
off the surface, and this is the clouted cream of Devonshire, 
which is known all over England. By a gentle agitation 
this clouted cream is speedily converted into butter." 

CABBAGE. This vegetable requires a great deal of 
washing and soaking, for in its close leaves are often con- 
cealed insects which have assumed the color of the leaves 
they feed on. Put salt in the water it is soaked in, and let 
the cabbage remain soaking some hours before cooking. 
When it goes into the pot, drain this water off, and fill up 
with fresh water in which is a little salt and a small piece of 



CAKE. 105 

soda. Skim it well, and when about half cooked pour off 
the water, take the cabbage out, and put it in cold water. If 
corned beef or pork is being boiled, fill the pot half full of the 
pot-liquor, return the cabbage, and fill up with water. Boil 
till tender. If there is no pot-liquor, or there is an objection 
to its use, fill the pot with cold water ; when the cabbage is 
tender, take it out, drain and press it well, but do not break, 
and put bits of fresh butter on it. 

Cabbages, like onions and water-cresses, have a bitter 
property, which is subdued by soaking in large quantities of 
water, and boiling with the same liberal measure of liquid. 

Red cabbage is used for pickling, and for winter salads. 

Stewed Cabbage. 

Cabbage which is left from dinner can be cut in slices, 
simmered in i .^ttle milk and water, drained, put into a ket- 
tle with a little butter or suet, clarified drippings, pepper and 
salt, heated, and browned, care being used that it does not 
burn. Stir into a pint of hot water a little piece of fresh 
butter, well mixed with a tablespoonful of flour and a little 
cream if you have it, and pour the mixture over the cabbage. 
Let it simmer ten minutes and serve hot. 

CAKE. For superior kinds of cake, the best of every- 
thing must be used, the flour sifted, the sugar pounded or 
rolled fine and sifted also, and the butter have the salt washed 
from it in cold water and be pressed dry. Nutmeg is al- 
ways lighter grated, but other spices must be pounded fine. 

A hickory spatula should be used for working the butter 
and sugar to a creamy consistency, though in cold weather 
many nice cooks use the hand. Beat the eggs when every 
other preparation has been made. Rods or egg-whisks are 
considered preferable to anything else for beating eggs. 
Break each egg in a saucer by itself. 



106 CAKE. 

The following receipt was given to me by a relative of 
the Washington family, Mrs. T. L. of Washington city, who 
told me it was a favorite cake of the General, and made 
generally once a week in his family. 

Washington Cake. 

One pound of flour, one pound of sugar, one half-pound of 
butter, one half-pint of cream, five eggs, one glass of brandy, 
a little mace, one teaspoonful of pearlash dissolved in cream, 
to be added when the other ingredients are well mixed. 
Bake in small tins. 

Take first your butter and cream it, then add your sugar, 
then your well-beaten eggs, your flour next, then your pearl- 
ash. Do not fill your pans too full, as it will rise very 
much. 

Wedding Cake. 

Four and a half pounds of flour, four and a half pounds 
of butter, four and a half pounds of sugar, one and a half 
pounds of stoned box-raisins, one and a half pounds of citron, 
six and a half pounds of currants, twenty-two eggs ; one 
half-ounce of mace, one half-ounce of cloves, one half-ounce 
of cinnamon ; one gill of wine, one half-gill of brandy, one 
half-gill of rose-water, one and a half teaspoonfuls of salera- 
tus, one table-spoonful of molasses. 

Pound Cake. 

Beat a pound of sugar and one of butter together to a 
cream, adding gradually to it, while beating, the strained juice 
of a lemon. Beat seven eggs, the yolks and whites sepa- 
rately, to a froth, and add them, then take a handful from a 
pound of sifted flour and stir in the remainder of the pound ; 
add the grate of two nutmegs, or sift in a blade or two of 
pounded mace. 



CAKE 107 

Pound cake is best baked in pans which have a tube in 
the centre, or small tin pans. Butter the pans well. If the 
pan is large, the cake will take three or four hours of un- 
broken but moderate heat. 

Sponge Cake. 

Ten eggs, the weight of ten eggs in sugar, the weight of 
six eggs in flour, the grate and the strained juice of one 
lemon. Break the eggs over the sifted sugar, beat them till 
it is quite light, and rises in the pan ; beat the flavoring 
in, and just before it goes to the oven stir in very gently the 
sifted flour. Have the pan buttered. Tin pans with divis- 
ions of oblong squares are the nicest for sponge cake. Bake 
quickly in a brisk oven. 

Jelly Cake. 

These cakes may be made of rich cup-cake, but the nicer 
kinds are made much as pound cake, only more eggs are 
used. 

Work into a pound of fresh butter the same quantity of 
sifted sugar, the grate of a nutmeg, and a tablespoonful of 
rose-water. Beat twelve eggs very lightly, and once stir them 
into the butter and sugar, a little at a time, with a pound of 
sifted flour. Butter flat tin plates or dinner-plates, and pour 
enough batter in to cover the bottom. Bake in a moderate 
oven without turning. When they come from the oven, take 
them out, and let them cool, but before they are cold, spread 
gooseberry jam, or some piquant fruit preserve, between each 
cake. You may make pies of them, that is, put only two 
cakes together, or you may pile them up, and trim the edges 
and ice it as one large cake. 

Composition Cake. 
Three quarters of a pound of fresh butter, and one pound 



108 CAKE. 

of sifted sugar, one pound and three quarters of flour, one 
table-spoonful of pearlasli, five eggs, one glass of wine, one 
of brandy, one pound of stoned raisins, one nutmeg, a small 
spoonful of sifted mace and cinnamon mixed. Beat the but- 
ter and sugar together Avith the spice, then add the well- 
beaten eggs ; take out a little of the flour to dust on the rai- 
sins, then stir in the remainder, add the wine and brandy 
and the smoothly ground pearlash ; add then the raisins 
dusted with flour. Bake in buttered tin pans. See Almond 
Cake. 

Sugar-Gingerbread. 

Five eggs, one and a quarter pounds of sugar, three quar- 
ters of a pound of butter, two pounds of flour, two table- 
spoonfuls, of even fulness, of ginger, one teaspoonful of pearl- 
ash or soda. 

Wash the butter and press it dry, sift the sugar and work 
them together ; when well mixed, beat the eggs till light, and 
stir them in with the flour. Dissolve the soda in a cup of 
cream or wine, and add it. Flour your paste-board, and 
lay the gingerbread on it. Divide it into two pieces, rolling 
each piece out in turn. Flour two large tin sheets, and lay 
the rolled pieces on, trimming the edges, and with a knife 
dipped in flour mark the surface through the centre length- 
wise and then across into bars. This cake should be worked 
with the hand. You may dissolve the. soda, if more con- 
venient, in a cup of warm milk, instead of cream ; this last, 
if over rich, will make the cake too short. 

Molasses-Gingerbread. 

Dissolve in a pint of molasses a cup of butter, putting over 
the butter two table-spoonfuls of sifted ginger. Let it get 
warm near the fire. Put into two cupfuls of sour milk two 
teaspoonfuls of soda. Beat four eggs till light. 



CALICO. 109 

Take the molasses up, and stir in the milk and eggs, and 
flour enough to make a thin batter, of the consistency of 
pound cake. Bake in tin pans immediately. 

CALICO. Fast colors in calicoes are thickened with 
gum or calcined starch, while fugitive colors are thickened 
with ":\im trasracanth. which leaves the cloth in a softer state 
than gum Senegal, the goods being sometimes sent to market 
without being washed. (Bigeloiu.) 

Calicoes, if possible, should only be washed on a dry day, 
and always by themselves, in suds prepared with ox-gall soap, 
or of hard soap, with a table-spoonful of ox-gall added. Soap 
should only be applied through the agency of the suds. 
Wash quickly from these prepared suds into another pre- 
pared in the same way, having both waters only milk-warm. 
Rinse out the soap in pure water, then quickly pass them 
into a second rinsing water, into which has been put a hand- 
ful of salt, or, what is better, a few drops of oil of vitriol, to 
set and brighten the colors, and some weak starch-water; 
and if there is no blueing in the starch, pass the indigo-bag 
once or twice rapidly through the water. Do not allow them 
to remain in any of the waters. Wring them out, and hang 
them on the wrong side in a shady place. Calicoes should 
never be frozen; it injures their colors. Dry them in the 
house, if necessary, to avoid such an accident. 

Water in which potatoes have been sliced and boiled is 
often strained and saved for the purpose of making suds for 
calicoes. 

Rice-water, and wheat-bran water, strained from these 
substances, is often successfully used. 

Dark and mourning calicoes are washed in the same man- 
ner, that is, with warm soap-suds and ox-gall ; but the starch 
is prepared with colored water, sometimes with coffee, to avoid 
the whitened look that starch sometimes gives dark calicoes. 
10 



110 CANDLES. 

Alum in small quantities is sometimes put into rinsing- 
water where the colors of the calico are mostly green ; where 
they are red, pink, and green, vinegar or pyroligneous acid 
may be used. Strong vinegar or too much oil of vitriol is 
injurious. 

Ox-gall put into a bottle with a little salt, and closely cov- 
ered, will keep several months. 

Calicoes should be ironed the same day, if possible, that 
they are washed, to prevent the colors from running. Do 
not use a very hot iron, and press them as far as possible on 
the wrong side. 

CAMPHORATED SPIRIT. Break gum camphor in- 
to bits, till you have half filled a bottle, then pour in alcohol. 
A few drops poured into a wineglass of water sometimes re- 
lieve faintness. If for external application, you may fill the 
bottle with the best olive-oil, or Jamaica rum or whiskey. 

CANDLES. Home-made candles are composed of ox- 
tallow and mutton-suet, either employed separately, or in 
equal parts. Tallow being more fusible than wax or sper- 
maceti, candles made of this material require larger sticks. 
The cotton wicking is purchased in large balls. It is well, 
in making candles, to boil in vinegar as much wicking as 
will 'be used, taking care to dry it thoroughly. It prevents 
the emission of odor while the candle is burning. 

When the fat is rendered, strain it close to the fire, and 
pour it while it is hot into the moulds, which should be pre- 
viously prepared, with wicking secured at one end with 
small wooden pegs, and at the other fastened with loops 
through which are slipped bits of coarse iron wire. The 
pegs should be, with the wicking, so placed as to prevent 
the escape of the grease. Have the wicks placed exactly 
in the centre of each tube, and fastened tightly on to the 



CARPETS. Ill 

wire. Put them out doors where they will cool and become 
firm. Do not pull them too early, and before attempting 
the drawing of them, dip the mould in warm water, and draw 
slowly. Put them in a cold place, and do not use them for 
some nights. They burn more economically if allowed to 
harden. 

The shavings of spermaceti candles shpuld be saved for 
the laundry ; they give a polish to starch used for linen, and 
are nice to rub the iron over to prevent the starch from 
sticking. 

Cut-glass candle-receivers, put on top of the candlestick 
for the candle to pass through, are pretty and useful articles, 
as they save wax from passing on to the furniture. 

CARPETS. Where the figure of a carpet is small, the 
two webs of which it is composed are more closely interwo- 
ven ; and besides, as a mere matter of taste, large figures are 
fast being resigned to steamboat upholstery. Colors are 
chosen with reference to their harmonious toning, to borrow 
an artist's phrase, with the rest of the furniture ; thus, if the 
chairs, papering, and sofas of a room are green, it is desirable 
that the ground-work of the carpet should be of the same 
color, relieved by some small figure. "White should be 
avoided, as it soon looks soiled. 

Wilton carpets, though extremely elegant, are miserable 
to wear, a large part of the material following the broom on 
the first sweeping. Turkey carpets, which are made in one 
square piece without seam, are rarely used now in the United 
States. They are swept with little success, and are so 
heavy that it requires half a score of men to shake one. 

The Tournay, Brussels, and Saxony, among expensive 
carpets, are the most useful. 

The striped Venetian carpets (used almost entirely for 
stairs and halls), the Kidderminster, and Imperial carpets 
are double-sided, and may be put down either side up. 



112 CARPETS. 

In making carpets, the strongest packthread is used, with 
stout carpet-needles. The two edges are brought together, so 
as to match the pattern, in every instance, exactly, and the 
stitches are taken on the wrong side. In some of the heavier 
carpets the stay-stitch is used, which consists in taking up one 
side at a time alternately, so that the seam may lie flat ; and 
where both sides are taken at once, the needle is passed first 
toward the workwoman, and then pointed for the following 
stitch from her. If it gets fulled or puckered, it should be 
picked out and re-sewed. The selvages should only meet, and 
not be lapped, and the stitches should not be drawn tight. 

Carpet binding is not so much used as formerly. The car- 
pet now, after being stretched, is turned down and tacked with 
carpet tacks, with bits of soft leather attached to each tack. 

Printed carpets, of woollen materials, are used chiefly for 
druggets, to save more expensive carpets, and for dining- 
rooms. 

Oil-cloth carpets where they can be afforded, are exceed- 
ingly convenient for kitchen floors. 

Carpets are best cleaned by being thoroughly shaken, the 
floors they were taken from washed very nicely, and when 
dry, the carpet returned to them, and then, after being tacked 
down and swept, to " make assurance double sure," scrubbed 
with a stiff brush and suds prepared with hard soap and ox- 
gall, renewing the suds frequently, rinsing in the same man- 
ner in clear water, in which has been dropped a little oil of vit- 
riol to fix and brighten the colors, and lastly, wiped dry with 
clean towels. The windows of the rooms where carpets are 
so cleansed should be left open, till all dampness has left the 
apartments. This is a good time to rub the edges of the 
carpet with camphene, putting it on with a rag or sponge ; 
the odor soon escapes, and the eggs of moths are effectually 
killed by the process. 

The great objection to American carpeting is, that the 
colors are not fast ; otherwise, they wear well. 



CARVING. 113 

CARROTS. This root, (the especial ally of the dairy,) 
when prepared for the table, is washed, scraped, and boiled in 
salt and water till tender. They should be cut in narrow 
strips lengthwise. They are nice, browned in butter or sweet 
fat, and thus sometimes garnish beef-stews. Boiled plain, 
they are served with boiled meats. A carrot cooked inside 
of a duck will mitigate the fishy, oily taste that is often over- 
strong in wild sea-ducks. The carrot is always removed be- 
fore the dish goes to table. 

CARVING. The principal points in carving are to 
serve all as nearly as possible alike, — in order to do this, 
one must know the delicate morceaux of eyerj dish, — and 
to leave the dish, especially if it be a large roasting-piece, 
so that its reappearance may be respectable. 

It is a great assistance to the carver to have the meat 
or fowls properly prepared and trussed. The bones of the 
loin of mutton should always be neatly sawed, if not by the 
butcher, then by the cook's meat-handsaw. She should 
do as much for the breasts of mutton and veal, and ribs of 
lamb. 

In carving the su'loin of beef, give each person a bit of 
fat, and throw over the joint, and cut off a piece of the ten- 
der-loin, and put a little gravy from the dish on the whole. 
A sirloin is cut at either end, or in the middle. 

Boiled beef and hams, and cold meats generally, are to be 
cut very thin, and the outside piece of boiled salted meats is 
laid aside. 

Roast stuffed veal is cut in thin horizontal slices, and 
each guest served to stuffing, gravy, and a bit of boiled 
ham. 

In carving roasted breast of veal, if a bone is liked, 
give with it a piece of the breast, and a bit of sweet- 
bread. 

10* 



114 CASHMERE. 

Mutton and pork are cut thicker than other meats. A leg 
of mutton is generillly brought toward the carver, by taking 
the fork in the left hand, and putting a prong through tlie 
knuckle bone, and cutting slices upward. 

A goose is carved in long thin breast slices, taking in as 
much as possible the length of the fowl. Many persons have 
a little wine gravy poured hot over the slices before they 
are served. Where the goose is stuifed, help to a bit of the 
stuffmg also. After the slices are off, proceed to disjoint the 
members, and cut the thigh, which is a delicate bit, from the 
leg, and the fleshy part from the wings. Unless the party is 
large, the breast-slices will meet demands. The choice bits 
of fowls, whether boiled or roasted, are the side-bones, the 
slices from the breast, wish-bone or merry-thought, the 
wings, and, of a fat, tender-boiled fowl, the thighs. 

The delicate task of separating joints is best learned by 
practice, and by putting one's self under the guidance of 
friends wdiose taste and judgment may be relied upon. In 
large dinner-parties, the lady or gentleman is now-a-days 
mostly relieved from the laborious duty of carving by the 
waiter, who, after the dishes have been placed on the table, 
removes them to the side-table. 

In helping to salmon, give a slice of the thick, and one 
of the thinner part of the fish, covering with the sauce pro- 
vided, whether this be caper, egg, or anchovy. Have slices 
of lemon in a plate by themselves. 

CASHMERE. The finest shawls of this name are those 
from the looms of Cashmere, and they are made of the fine 
down of the goats that live on the table-land of Thibet. 
"When not in use, these shawls, like the camel's-hair shawls, 
should be wrapped in linen, with camphor sprinkled in the 
folds, and kept in a cool, dark closet, or in camphor or cedar 
trunks. 



CATCHUP. 115 

CATCHUP. The most indispensable of these prepara- 
tions are Mushroom, Walnut, and Tomato Catchup. 

Mushrooms should only be gathered by some one acquaint- 
ed with this pecuhar family. The wholesome ones have a 
pleasant odor, a round form, tender edge and middle, and 
when young a salmon color on the under part, which, as they 
mature, turns to a dark brown, the upper part and stalk be- 
ing of a pearlisli white. But as sad accidents often occur 
from the use of poisonous mushrooms, no one should attempt 
to gather this edible fungus without competent knowledge. 
One fact with regard to the mushroom is, that the wholesome 
kinds grow openly in pastures, and those that are found in 
woods and damp swampy places are not good. 

It is said that poisonous mushrooms turn silver black, 
and onions that are boiled with them. Another test is to 
sprinkle a little salt on the inner spongy side, and examine 
them a little while after ; if the action of the salt has impart- 
ed a yellow color, they are to be rejected ; but if black, they 
are wholesome. 

Mushroom Catchup. 

Gather the large, juicy, flap-mushrooms, that are too ripe 
for pickling or stewing. Remove all decayed matter and 
foreign substances, and put the mushrooms into an earthern 
jar, with a little salt sprinkled over each layer. Cover and 
leave them near the fire for twenty-four hours. Strain off 
the liquor into a porcelain-lined kettle, or clean saucepan. 
Let it boil over a good fire for half an hour, than add to 
every quart of liquor two teaspoonfuls of black peppercorns, 
one teaspoonful of allspice, three small slices of fresh ginger, 
a few blades of mace, three or four cloves, and a sprinkle of 
Cayenne pepper. Let it simmer till reduced one half. Take 
it off and cover it. When sufficiently cool, fill small glass 
bottles quite full. Dip off the liquid without disturbing the 



116 CATCHUP. 

sediment, which can be saved for soups, or fish-sauces, or 
put into a linen bag for the top of the pickle-pot. Cork 
closely with fresh cork-wood, and lay the bottles on their 
sides in a dry, cool closet. 

Tomato Catchup. 

Take a peck of tomatoes that are fully ripe, on a dry day 
in August, or early in September. Pick the stems from 
them, and wipe with a clean towel dipped in warm water. 
Put them into the kettle with salt between each layer, but 
without water. As they boil, skim and stir them frequently 
for an hour, strain them through a colander, then through a 
coarse sieve. To the strained liquid, put six or seven small 
chopped onions, one or two blades of mace, a table-spoonful of 
whole black pepper. Boil it an hour and a half, adding, if 
necessary, a little more salt. Fill, when cool, small bottles 
quite full, and cork closely. 

If tomato catchup is preferred thinner, you may slice 
your tomatoes, and- squeeze them through a linen bag, and 
pound your spices. Take one or two onions to a peck 
of tomatoes, chopping the onions very fine, and add a very 
little Cayenne. Keep the bottles on their sides in a cool 
closet. 

Walnut Catchup. 

Gather the walnuts while they are green and tender 
enough to be pierced with a coarse needle. Probe them 
with a bodkin, or crush them with a wooden mallet, and put 
them into a pan and cover them with a pickle made of a 
little soft water and a handful of table-salt. Let them re- 
main four or five days, mashing and turning them every day 
with a wooden spoon. Have ready on the fifth day a 
liquid composed of soft pure water and mild vinegar, bring it 
to boiling heat, and to every dozen walnuts pour a quart 



CAYENNE. 117 

of this boiling liquid. Mash the walnuts, and take the 
liquor off with a wooden spoon, and press the rinds in a bag. 
Boil the walnut liquor gently for an hour, skimming it 
well. Take it off, and to each quart of liquor put an ounce 
of pounded allspice and black pepper mixed, a teaspoonful 
of pounded cloves, and the same of mace, and the grate of 
one nutmeg. Put the liquor to the fire, cover closely, and 
let it boil three quarters of an hour, when bottle as directed 
above. 

CAULIFLOWER. These delicate vegetables, before be- 
ing cooked, should have the coarse outside leaves removed, 
as also the coarser part of the stalk. Put them in a pan of 
cold water, sprinkling salt over them to draw out all insects, 
and allow them to remain soaking some hours. Examine 
them well. Boil them in a steamer with milk and water, 
putting in the large heads some minutes before the small 
ones. Boil them slowly for twenty minutes, or till tender, 
but do not allow them to break to pieces. Do not keep the 
cover close. Eat them with fresh butter and salt, or you 
may rub a little flour into three large spoonfuls of good 
butter, melt it slowly, and pour it (after the cauliflowers have 
been well drained from moisture) over the vegetables just 
before you send them to the table. / 

Broccoli may be prepared in the same way. 

CAYENNE. This is made from the East and West In- 
dian Capsicums, which with care are easily grown in almost 
all the States. When the pods are quite ripe and red, slit 
them open, and sift a little dried flour over them. Dry them 
on tin sheets in an oven. When dry, pound them in a stone 
mortar with a little flour till perfectly powdered. 

Chillies or Guinea peppers are sometimes used for Cay- 
enne. This pepper is often dangerously adulterated with red- 
lead, and other vile compounds. 



118 CEMENTS. 

CELERY. This vegetable, beside its uses as an accom- 
paniment to white fowls and for salads, is often dressed as 
asparagus, boiled, cut into pieces of six or seven inches, 
and served on buttered toast. It is also cut in small pieces 
and stewed in butter, and a little pepper and salt added, 
and cream sauce poured over it just before it is sent to the 
table. Celery and celery seed make a nice flavoring for 
light soups. 

CEMENTS. The substances which form the uniting 
medium between bricks and stones in building are called 
cements. The best calcareous cements are those which are 
equally mixed, and of good consistence, and are manufac- 
tured of pure lime, freed from carbonic acid by recent slack- 
ing, and sand which is fresh (as salt is apt to deliquesce, and 
weaken the strength of the cement), and whose angles are 
sharp, not worn by the action of tides and water. 

The proportion of sand and lime is different in various 
cements, but that of sand always exceeds the lime, and the 
more sand the lime can receive, and retain at the same time 
the required plasticity, the better for the cement, as it solidi- 
fies sooner, when the well worked and beaten lime and 
water is subdivided, and well taken up with clean sharp 
sand. The purer the lime, and the more it is worked and 
beaten, the greater its capacity for receiving sand. 

Common mortar is made of pure lime, in the state of fine 
powder, good sand free from clay, and a little pure water. 
It is customaiy to have the sand partly coarse, and the usual 
proportions are three parts of fine and four parts of coarser 
sand, and one part of quicklime, recently slacked with pure 
water, to reduce the whole to a thick paste. 

Water, hydraulic, or Roman cements are those which 
resist the action of water, hardening under it, and solidify 
very soon after being mixed. They are formed of various 
substances. 



CEMENTS. 119 

The artificial quays and islands built by the Romans for 
the purpose of erecting villas in the Bay of Baias, a spot of 
fashionable resort for the wealthy, were constructed of a 
peculiar earth, called by the Romans pulvis puteolanus, and 
now known under the name of Puzzolana. It is a porous, 
friable mineral, of volcanic origin and various color. On 
being reduced to a powder, and incorporated thoroughly with 
lime, either with or without sand, it forms a mass of firm, 
solid substance, that, not only in the air, but immersed in 
water, concretes to stony hardness. 

Cements are also formed of other substances. Some of 
the ores of manganese form water cements ; and baked clay 
reduced to powder, and the common greenstone calcined and 
pulverized, make with lime tolerable hydraulic cements. 

Some Hmestones, when calcined and mixed with simple 
sand and water, form water cements, and usually in con- 
sequence of these stones containing a certain portion of 
argillaceous earth united with lime. 

Various parts of the United States afford very good 
hydraulic cements. 

Different theories have been broached to account for sub- 
stances hardening under water ; the most probable appears 
to be, that the attraction for water in certain argillaceous 
earths causes them to quickly absorb the superabundance of 
moisture from the lime, and thus hasten its solidification ; 
which explanation receives collateral aid in the fact, that 
burnt clays, which, properly managed, afford hydraulic ce- 
ments, cease to do so if the burning has been continued till 
vitrification has ensued. (Bigelow's Useful Arts.) 

Common Cement for Broken Vessels. 

Put to half a pint of boiling milk the same quantity of 
vinegar. Take out the curd, and when the whey is only 
milk-warm beat into it the whites of five fresh eggs. Beat 



120 CHARCOAL. 

it thoroughly, and sift into this mixture enough quicklime to 
make a stiff paste. If the materials are good, and well in- 
corporated, the above is a cheap and useful cement. 

Cement foe Bottles. 

Mix equal portions of pounded resin and beeswax, and 
add one fourth of their weight of mutton or beef suet. Let 
it melt slowly over the fire, and stir in brick-dust, Spanish 
whiting, or some basis that has the desired color. Put it 
warm over the bottles or jars to be sealed ; or well-corked 
bottles may be dipped in the cement. 

Cements are frequently made of resin, beeswax, and the 
powdered substance of a like nature with the article to be 
repaired. Pound the resin, and stir it into the melted wax, 
and then make the whole of proper consistency with pow- 
dered alabaster or glass or china, as the case m hand may 
require. 

CHARCOAL. This substance, as observed when speak- 
ing of antiseptics, is often placed around meat and game to 
keep them from taint. Water filtered through coarse sand 
and a bed of charcoal is often relieved of deleterious sub- 
stances. 

Charcoal is almost indispensable in igniting anthracite 
coal, when used in parlor-grates. It is also useful in small 
portable furnaces for preserving ; but when these are used, 
there should be a current of fresh air to carry off the 
fumes of the charcoal, which, as is well known, are fatkl 
to human life. 

Vessels and tubs in which meats, and substances whose 
absorbed juices might induce putrefaction, are kept, are often 
charred by burning shavings in them, the charcoal thus 
induced keeping them sweet. 



CHEESE. 121 

CHAELOTTE DE RUSSE. One pint of sweet cream, 
the yolks of eight eggs, one pound of loaf-sugar sifted fine, 
and one pint of unskimmed milk. 

Boil the milk with a vanilla bean or a few pounded bitter 
almonds. Take it off, and strain it ; when cool, stir in the 
cream and the eggs, both of which should be well beaten. 
Put the whole over the fire, and stir it till thick ; and have 
ready a jelly made of an ounce of the best isinglass, or Cox's 
sparkling gelatine, or the same quantity made from calves' 
feet. When the custard and jelly are both cool, but not 
hard, mix them together. Have a fresh sponge or almond 
cake baked in an oval tin mould, from which cut out very 
neatly the centre, leaving the bottom and sides on to the 
depth of an inch ; fill up with the prepared custard, and set 
it on ice. The whites of the eggs may be usecj for an 
icing to the top of the cake. 

Charlotte Russe is frequently made by placing ladies' 
fingers or Savoy biscuits in a mould close together at the 
bottom and sides, and filling up the mould with custard and 
isinglass jelly, and setting it on ice till turned out for the 
table. You may place the cakes so as to form a rosette. 

CHEESE. The quality and flavor of cheese depend 
upon the richness-of the milk and the amount of cream used 
in the manufacture of it. Cheese of a good quality melts at 
a moderate heat, while poor cheese, being deficient in the oil 
of cream, dries and* curls up. 

A Parmesan cheese is made from the milk of not less 
than fifty cows, and as one farm rarely contains pasture for 
such a number, the farmers or metayers of a district club 
together. 

Stilton cheese is the cream cheese of England. Cream 
cheese is not subjected to such heavy pressure as milk 
cheese, but, when the curd has set, is placed in a sieve to 
11 



122 CHEESE. 

drain slowly, and, after being gently pressed, is put into a 
wooden hoop, and afterwards dried on boards with cloth 
binders, which are* tightened as the cheese hardens. Cream 
cheese requires frequent turning. 

Some dairywomen mix the cream of one milking, with 
the rennet, into the new milk they are to make their cheese 
from. 

The best season for cheese-making is while the cows 
are feeding on pasture, winter cheese being of an inferior 
quality, and made with more difficulty than during warm 
weather. 

Annotto is used for coloring cheese, particularly in Eng- 
land. (See Annotto.) Mr. Coleman attributed the poor rep- 
utation our cheese enjoyed abroad to its sharp, acid taste, it§ 
deficiency in rich color, and its lacking a firm rind. As 
these defects may originate partly from the preparation of 
the rennet and the manner of salting, I have taken great 
pains to consult some of the best English authorities, and to 
examine personally into the management of dairies at home. 
Among others, I am indebted to Professor Low's Elements 
of Agriculture and Johnson's Farmer's Encyclopaedia, books 
which I heartily wish were in the hands of every farmer in 
the United States ; for though all matters discussed in them 
are not applicable to this country, they are full of general 
agricultural knowledge. 

The utensils required for making cheese are a large tub, 
in which the milk is coagulated, and the curd broken ; the 
cheese-knife or wooden spatula with one or more blades 
for cutting the curd to facilitate the separation of the whey ; 
wooden spoons for taking off the whey ; sieves, or another 
wooden vessel perforated with holes, for further expressing 
the whey ; small circular vats, in w^hich the cheese is placed 
to be compressed ; and, finally, the cheese-press. This last 
is made from difierent models, and acts upon the curd by the 



CHEESE. 123 

continued pressure of a weight. The rennet, which is used 
to coagulate the milk, is the fourth stomach of a calf. "When 
no rennet is found of sufficient strength to curdle the milk, 
various plants have been used for the purpose ; in England 
the Yellow Ladies' Bedstraw ( Galium verum) has been sub- 
stituted, and in Spain the Cardoon (^Cynara cardunculus). 
A strong infusion is made in the evening of the down of the 
Cardoon, and in the morning it is ready for use. Half a pint 
of the infusion is sufficient to produce coagulation in fourteen 
gallons of new milk. 

The substance of the rennet is increased by feeding the 
calf largely with milk some hours before slaughtering. In 
taking the stomach from the newly killed calf, only foreign 
substances should be removed; the chyme and coagulated 
milk, of which it chiefly consists, should be undisturbed. 
A few handfuls of salt are to be put into the stomach and all 
around it, and then, after being rolled up, it should be hung 
near the fire to dry ; and if hung up a year or more before 
it is used, its quality is improved. It is the gastric juice of 
this rennet which produces coagulation. 

Says Professor Low : " When the rennet is prepared for 
use, it is cut into small pieces, and put into a jar with a 
handful or two of salt. Water which has been previously 
boiled and cooled again is then poured upon it, and allowed 
to remain for two or three days. It is then drawn off, and 
sometimes a second infusion is made, but with a smaller 
quantity of water ; this also remains a few days, and being 
withdrawn, the two liquors are mixed together, strained 
through a cloth, and put into bottles, to be used when re- 
quired. The quantity of this rennet to be used is to be 
regulated by the strength of the infusion ; it should be only 
enouo-h to have the milk curdled in an hour. If a sufficient 
quantity of new milk is procured at one milking to make a 
cheese, it is used as soon as it can be strained ; but if not 



124 CHEESE. 

enough to make a cheese, it is put into milk-vessels till enough 
is obtained. When the cheese is to be made, the cream is 
skimmed off, and part of the milk is taken and heated over 
the fire to that degree, that, on being returned to the mass, 
will raise it to about 90°. The cream which was removed 
is either thoroughly mixed with the heated milk, or it is 
added to the general mass, after the heated milk has been re- 
turned. While yet warm, a quantity of rennet is mixed 
with it, and coagulation soon takes place. The curd being 
formed, it is cut with a wooden spoon, or cheese-knife, to 
allow the whey to escape, and the curd is subjected to gentle 
pressure, while the whey is removed with a wooden spoon. 
It is now hfted by one of the mentioned articles (spatula or 
spoon) into a sieve, or vat with holes, where it is repeatedly 
cut, pressed by the hand, and broken, until it no longer gives 
out any serous matter. Finally, after being cut very small by 
the cheese-knife, and a quantity of salt, in the proportion of 
about half an ounce to a pound of cheese, being mixed with 
it, it is wrapped in a piece of cloth, put into a small wooden 
vessel, with circular holes at the side and bottom, and placed 
in the cheese-press ; but frequently the salt is not applied un- 
til the cheese has been compressed." 

The time which is allowed for the cheese to remain in 
press, is regulated by the richness of the cheese, and the 
amount of previous manipulation which has been bestowed, 
very rich cheese requiring comparatively but little pressure. 

" But," says Professor Low, " in ordinary cases, the 
cheese, being wrapped in a cloth, and put into its vat, with a 
board above it to fit the vat, remains in the press from one 
to two hours. It is then taken out, wrapped in fresh cloth, 
and replaced in the cheese-vat ; and then the salt, if it has 
not been previously applied, is rubbed over the surface. It 
may then be taken out every five or six hours, the cloth be- 
ing changed, and the salting repeated. After being pressed 



CHEESE. 125 

in this manner for two or three days, the operation will be 
complete. The cheese may then be kept in a warm place 
for some time to dry, and ultimately placed in the store-room 
for preservation." 

In some of the English districts, the dairy-women, on tak- 
ing the cheese out of the press, put it in a vessel with hot 
whey, where it remains an hour or two to harden the rind, 
when it is wiped dry, cooled, and returned to the vat, which 
has been previously wiped dry, to be pressed again. If the 
cheese has been made in the morning, which is the usual 
time, it is again taken out of the vat, and a fresh dry cloth 
is wrapped around it, and the cheese is turned and replaced ; 
what was formerly the upper becoming now the under side. 
For two days it is turned in the vat, and put into clean 
cloths twice each day, when it is finally removed. The 
salting is now undertaken. The cheese is carried to the 
salting-house and placed in the vat in a tub, which is partly 
filled with brine. Here the cheese remains for several days, 
being regularly turned at least once every day. The vat is 
then removed and the cheese placed on the salting-bench, 
where it remains for eight or ten days, salt being daily 
rubbed over the whole cheese. If the cheese is of large size, 
it is common to secure it with a wooden hoop or fillet of 
cloth, to prevent cracks and rents. When supposed to be 
sufiiciently salted, it is washed in warm water or whey, and, 
when well dried with a cloth, put on the drying-bench, where 
it remains a week or ten days before it is finally deposited 
in the cheese-chamber. 

The management of this cheese-room is regulated by the 
weather and the judgment of the dairy- woman. If the air 
be moist and close, fresh air is admitted, but if cold and dry, 
the room is kept closed. In about ten days, or according to 
the space of time between the washings, the cheeses are 
cleaned by being washed and scraped. 
11* 



126 CHERRY. 

A decoction of saffron is sometimes put into milk to give 
cheese a little color ; it is used in the Parmesan cheese. 

The mould or vat in which cheese is formed is made 
of thick staves, generally of white or American oak, and 
secured with two strong iron hoops, to withstand the neces- 
sary pressure. It is perforated with many small holes in the 
bottom and sides, to let the whey escape from the curd. 
This vat is sometimes called chessel. 

Cheese-cloths should be strong, and of open texture ; every 
time they are removed from the vat, they should be wrung 
out of boiling water, and dried in the sun or before the jBre ; 
if this is not done, it is sufficient cause for inducing " a sharp 
acid taste " in cheese. 

CHERRY (^Cerasus vulgaris). The Cherry is of Asiat- 
ic origin ; the Roman Lucullus, returning from Pontus after 
a victorious campaign, brought it from Cerasus, a town in 
that province, in the year 69 B. C. 

It is a tree of rapid growth, and the varieties of the Black 
and Heart-shaped Cherries grow to forty or fifty feet in 
height ; the Acid or Red Cherry does not spread so vigor- 
ously, but is of slower growth, lower, and more bushy in its 
developments. 

It is a strange fact, that we have not cultivated our native 
Cherries to any great extent, but have directly imported the 
rich Cherries of France, England, and Holland, which seem 
not altogether suited to our climate, for they decay at the 
season of ripening, and those which reach maturity lose their 
fine fleshy firmness a few hours after being plucked. 

The wild Virginia Cherry yields a wood hardly inferior to 
mahogany, and I have seen bedsteads of elegant polish and 
color made from this material. 

Though the Cherry will grow in almost any soil, that which 
is deep and mellow, but not damp, is the best suited to it ; 



C«ERRY. 127 

in wet positions it soon grows sickly and decays. To pro- 
tect it from spring frosts, it is well to plant it in places where 
premature budding Avill not be induced, on the north sides 
of hills, or elevated, cool locations, rather than deep, warm 
valleys. The finest varieties are obtained by budding on 
seedlings of the common Mazard Cherry. (See Budding^ 
As a standard tree, which is the usual mode of cultivating 
the Cherry in the United States, this tree requires but little 
cultivation, beyond an occasional administering of manure to 
old trees, and a very little pruning in midsummer where 
a dead or cross-branch interferes with the general health 
of the tree, and an occasional washing with soft-soap suds, 
where the bark shows a tendency to become hard. Pruning 
is very apt to induce gum and decay, and should be under- 
taken only when absolutely necessary. 

Mr. Downing has divided Cherries into four classes, viz. : — 

1. Heart Cherries ; the common Mazard and Black be- 
ing taken as types of this division. 

2. Bigarrean Cherries. Those which are tender and 
crachling, as compared with the melting, tender flesh of the 
first class. 

3. Duke Cherries. The May Duke . is the type of this 
class. These are excellent varieties, succeeding well in al- 
most all soils and climates, and invaluable both for the des- 
sert and for cookinj]^. 

4. jMorello Cherries. The common Kentish or Pie Cher- 
ry, and the Morello, are well known varieties of this class. 

Where cherries are used for dessert, they should be put 
into a refrigerator or ice-house, or placed in a vessel which 
should be immersed in cold water, that the fruit may retain 
firmness, and be cold. 

The gum of the Cherry is said to have been instrumental 
in saving a besieged army cut off from supplies. Its prop- 
erties resemble those of gum-arabic. 



128 CHICKBN. 

Some of the most celebrated cordials and liqueurs of Eu- 
rope are made from the Cherry. Common Cherry Cordial 
is made in the same manner as Raspberry Cordial. (See 
Cordials.^ 

The Kirschwasser of Germany is the distilled liquor of the 
common Black Hazard or Jean, the stones being ground, 
broken, and fermented with the pulp. Ratijia cordial of 
Grenoble is prepared from this fruit. 

Maraschino, the far-famed liquor of Italy, is distilled from 
a small Jean or Mazzard, to which is added, in the process 
of fermentation, honey, the leaves, and kernels of the fruit. 

Dried Cherries. 
Stone the fruit. Morello, Kentish, or Early Richmond are 
nice for this purpose. Sprinkle a little powdered sugar over 
them, and spread them on flat dishes for the night. In the 
morning pour off very gently what sirup may have been 
made, and weigh the fruit. Make a rich sirup, taking for a 
pound of fruit the same weight of sugar, wetting the sugar 
with the cherry juice, and water enough merely to dissolve 
it. Let it come to a boil, when put the fruit in and scald it, 
dip it out gently, and allow the sirup to boil for fifteen 
minutes, skimming constantly all the time. Spread the cher- 
ries in tin pans, and place them in a very moderate oven ; add 
the sirup to them gradually, and keep turning them till dry, 
for several days. Put them, when cool, in glass jars, and 
cover closely. 

CHICKEN. It is well to allow chickens to hang a day 
or two before cooking them, else they are apt to be tough 
and stringy ; but they should be drawn on being killed, the 
flavor of undrawn birds being admired only by the few. 
Avoid breaking the gall-bladder, and singe them without 
breaking the skin or discoloring them. Do not wash them 
till just before they are to be cooked. 



CHICKEN. 129 

Spring chickens are roasted like fowls. Twenty minutes 
will roast a chicken. See Foivls. 

Capons are roasted and boiled in the same manner as 
turkeys ; they are best when nine or ten months old ; when 
older they may be stewed with butter and vegetables, and 
eaten with tongue, or boiled for broth or sauces. 

Boiled Chicken. 

Put chickens on in plenty of water, from which the chill 
has been taken. Chickens with a white skin are nicest for 
boiling ; before going on, let them be nicely trussed, putting 
the gizzards and livers under the wangs. Have ready a 
small bit of salt pork w^hich has been boiling three quarters 
of an hour ; put it in with the chickens. Boil the chickens 
very slowly for about ten minutes, but keep them covered in 
hot w^ater for about half an hour. Before you send them to 
the table, drain them near the fire. Serve with egg-sauce, 
and garnish with sprigs of parsley. 

The water in which chickens are boiled can be used for 
soup, by adding vegetables and straining. 

Curried Chicken. 

Disjoint the chicken and cut the breast up. Chop a small 
onion, and put it into a saucepan with a piece of butter as 
large as a table-spoonful. Stir them well, sift in two tea- 
spoonfuls of curry-powder and add a few spoonfuls of broth. 
Lay in the chickens ; when it boils, cover it, and allow it to 
stew very gently for half an hour ; if it gets dry, add a Httle 
cream, broth, or water. Season with salt. Boil some rice 
in another saucepan, and serve it in a separate dish. 

Fricassee of Chickens. 

Cut up a chicken into seven or eight handsome pieces, and 
put them in a stewpan, "with the gizzard and liver, and cover 



130 CHILBLAINS. 

with water a little warm ; throw in a salt-spoonful of sail;, a 
little pepper, one or two cloves, and a blade of mace ; boil till 
tender. Take out the pieces and strain the liquor, thicken 
a piece of butter with a little flour, stir it into the liquor with 
a few onions chopped very fine. Put the liquor over the 
fire with the chicken,''let it simmer, skimming it for twenty 
minutes. Stir into a teacup of cream the yolks of two eggs. 
Pile the chicken up on a dish, stir rapidly the cream into 
the stock in the sauce, let it heat, but not boil, and pour it 
hot over the dish of chicken. 

CHICCORY,oii SUCCORY {Oichorium Lityhus). The 
wild Endive. The cultivated variety is somewhat used in 
England as a forage plant, but it is said to impart a bad 
taste to the milk. The root, which contains a bitter, is sub- 
stituted occasionally for hops in brewing beer. In Europe 
the dried root is roasted and used instead of coffee, and the 
excise laws of England allow it to be mixed with coffee. In 
an exceedingly clever article in a recent London Quarterly, 
(Food and its Adulteration,) chiccory is spoken of as an in- 
sipid root containing neither nourishing nor refreshing quali- 
ties, and possessing no nitrogenized principle, while strong 
doubts seem to be entertained whether it is not positively in- 
jurious to the nervous system. The same Reviewer remarks 
that Professor Beer, a celebrated oculist of Vienna, forbids 
the use of it to his patients, considering it to be the cause of 
amaurotic blindness. 

CHILBLAINS. Oil-skin socks, worn night and day, are 
often of great service in this exceedingly troublesome com- 
plaint. If the skin has not broken, various embrocations 
may be used with advantage. Spirits of turpentine, or equal 
parts of vinegar and spirits of wine, or diluted muriatic acid, 
may be applied ; but if the skin is exceedingly sensitive and 



CHOCOLATE. 131 

broken, mild poultices must be served. If fungous granula- 
tions appear, they may be touched with some mild caustic. 

Carefully avoid going near the fire or furnace, as great 
heat causes the weak vessels to distend, and sometimes leads 
to ulceration. 

CHOCOLATE. A preparation made of the seeds or 
nuts of the cocoa-tree. (Worcester.) These preparations 
are varied by French and Italian flavorings. 

Common chocolate comes usually in small squares of the 
weight of an ounce. In preparing the beverage, you scrape or 
grate the chocolate with a common grater kept for the pur- 
pose. Put the scraped chocolate over the fire in a saucepan, 
with cold water, regulating the quantity of water by the 
strength you wish the infusion to have. If you wish it rich, 
put to two squares or ounces a gill of water. Stir it slowly 
with a wooden spoon, until it thickens, when it should be 
stirred quickly, and a pint of boiling milk added, a Uttle at a 
time. Chocolate should be served hot. Sugar may be put 
in on the table. 

Chocolate after the Italian method is made in a chocolate- 
pot of peculiar construction, which contains a utensil which 
answers the purpose of a wooden spatula, and the handle of 
which passes up through the lid. Put into the pot two 
ounces of scraped chocolate, and pour over it, gradually, a 
pint of boiling milk, fasten the lid on with the wooden dasher 
enclosed, and agitate the handle constantly, that the choco- 
late, when hot, may present a frothy appearance. 

French chocolate frequently comes flavored with vanilla, 
and sweetened. It is less oily than common chocolate. If 
it comes as a powder, dissolve it gradually in boiled milk, and 
serve hot. A teaspoonful and a half of powdered chocolate 
is the French recipe. 

Cocoa is imported in bags. The nut is roasted or dried in 



132 COCA. 

a moderate oven, and cracked in a mortar. It requires to be 
well boiled, allowing a pint of water to each ounce of cocoa. 
Pour off the liquid, and stir into it boiling milk. 

Cracked cocoa is simply the shell and nut together, and is 
prepared as the above. Baker's prepared cocoa is much 
approved. 

Shells of cocoa are soaked, and then boiled in the same 
water. They require to be well boiled. Put a large gill to» 
a quart of water ; after being soaked over night, and thor- 
oughly boiled, strain off the liquor, and put milk to it and 
heat it again. 

CHOWDER. Cut a quarter of a pound of fat salt-pork 
into slices, and try it out in the pot you make the chowder in. 
Take a haddock that has been nicely cleaned, and cut it across 
into bits about an inch and a half wide. Take out the rashers 
of pork and put in a layer of fish, pepper it well, and dust in 
flour on it, then another layer of fish, seasoning it in the same 
manner. Pour over cold water till the fish is a little more 
than covered. Put it on to boil. Shred an onion or two 
very fine, and throw it into the pot. Ten minutes before you 
take it up, put in half a bottle of claret or port wine, and let 
it boil up. Try a little in a cup, and if not of the consistency 
of cream, mix a little flour in a cup with water, and pour it 
in. Dip in cold water half a dozen crackers, split them, and 
five minutes before you serve the chowder, put them into the 
pot. About half an hour after it begins to boil, the chowder 
will be cooked. Serve in a deep dish, garnishing the sides 
with the brown rashers of pork. 

COCA {Erythroxylon coca). A pernicious narcotic of 
Peru. The dried leaf is chewed, but the forlorn victim who 
is its slave is punished with terrible imaginations, often fan- 
cying himself guilty of frightful crimes. 



COFFEE. 133 

m 

COCHINEAL (Coccus Cacti). Dried insects brought 
originally from Mexico. But the production of this insect 
is being largely extended. They feed upon the leaves of 
several species of cactus, and are thought to owe their color- 
ing matter to this food. The most beautiful of all the reds, 
carmine, is derived from this insect. Though the natural 
color of cochineal is crimson, yet on dissolving it in water, 
and adding bitartrate of potassa, it yields a rich scarlet 
dye. 

Cochineal, according to Pelletier and Caventon, is com- 
posed of, — 1. Carminium, wliich is the name given to the 
coloring matter. 2. A peculiar animal matter. 3. A fatty 
substance. 4. Salts of lime and potassa. 

The preparation of the finest varieties of carmine is kept 
secret by the manufacturers, but is supposed to depend much 
upon the delicacy of the manipulations. The ordinary pro- 
cess is to dissolve it in water, to wliich alum, carbonate of 
soda, or oxide of tin is added. 

A pound of cochineal is composed of about 70,000 insects. 
(Biffelow.) 

, COFFEE (Cqfea AraUca). The coffee-plant, of Ori- 
ental origin, being a native of Abyssinia and the adjoining 
countries, is now grown very extenfively in the "West Indies, 
and in South America. But the Mocha and Java Govern- 
ment are regarded as the best varieties. 

The coffee-bean, though introduced from Abyssinia into 
Arabia as late as the beginning of the fifteenth century, and 
England's first coffee-house being opened no earlier than 1652, 
is computed to be consumed, at the present time, at the rate of 
six hundred millions of pounds annually, among one hundred 
millions of people. Coffee, like tea, is the better for being 
old. The principle in coffee, known under the name of ca- 
feine, is mellowed oy age. Coffee, drunk at full strength, is 
12 



134 CORDIALS. 

an antidote for an over-dose of laudanum. Roasted coffee 
is said to be a great purifier of the atmosphere. 

Coffee should be roasted equally, and of rich dark brown 
color, stirring it constantly with a wooden spatula. On be- 
ing ground, that which is not infused should be kept closely 
covered in a tin pail that fits neatly. 

M. Soyer's manner of making coffee is to stir the grounds 
in a stewpan till quite hot, when to two ounces of coffee he 
pours over a pint of boiling water ; then he covers it closely 
with a cloth for five minutes, after which he passes it through 
a cloth, then warms again, and serves hot. I have tried this 
method and found it excellent ; but to servants, and for daily 
practice, it cannot be recommended. 

French breakfast coffee has an equal portion of boiling 
milk added to the made and drawn-off coffee, which should 
be warmed together and served hot. 

The following is a good way of preparing coffee : — 

Put in your coffee-pot three ounces of ground coffee, with a 
bit of fish-skin that has been previously washed (it need not 
be larger than a cent), or a little egg may be used (one egg 
should last three mornings) ; pour over it a quart of boiling 
water. Let it boil not longer than five minutes, then take it 
off to settle, and clear the spout of the coffee-pot by pouring 
out a little coffee and retilrning it ; then put in a spoonful or 
two of cold water to facilitate the settling. 

The same coffee-grounds can have another quart of boiling 
water poured on them, and be boiled five minutes, and yield 
a very good beverage. 

CORDIALS. These drinks are made from cherries, 
peaches, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, apricots, etc. 

Strawberry Cordial. 
Let the fruit be fair and perfectly ripe, and to every 



CORN, INDIAN. 135 

quart of fruit, sift over a pound of the . purest loaf-sugar. 
Let it stand twenty-four hours in a deep pan, when strain 
the liquor from the fruit, and to every large spoonful of 
juice put a table-spoonful of purest brandy. Put it in small 
bottles in a cool place. 

Raspberry Cordial. 

Squeeze your raspberries through a flannel bag, and to 
every quart of juice add one pound of loaf-sugar. Put it 
with the sugar into a stone jar, and stir it together frequently 
the first day, then allow it to stand for three days, when 
strain through a sieve. To each quart of juice thus prepared, 
add one quart of brandy. Bottle for use. 

Peach Cordial. 

Take peaches that are juicy and perfectly ripe. Slice 
them, crack the stones, and put the kernels in. Add a pound 
of loaf-sugar to a pound of fruit. Set it near the fire, and 
dip off the juice from time to time, pressing it towards the 
last with a spoon. When the juice is entirely expressed, 
put it in a preserving-kettle, let it come to a boil, and skim 
it thoroughly. Let it cool, and then add a quart of brandy 
to each quart of peach sirup. 

(See Blackberry.^ 

CORN, INDIAN {Zea Mays), Green corn should be 
put into boiling water, and cooked about twenty minutes ; if 
boiled too long, it becomes hard. 

But dishes made of Indian meal can scarcely be cooked 
too much. Mush requires two hours of steady boiling, and 
puddings made of corn-pieal require, whether boiled or 
baked, five or six hours of cooking. 

Corn, if ground too fine, is flat and insipid. Exported 
corn should be kiln-dried. 



136 CRANBERRY. 

Hominy is mostly prepared from the white corn of the 
South ; when coarse it is merely hulled and crushed, but fine 
hominy is ground. 

Succotash consists of beans boiled till tender, and mixed 
with boiled corn cut from the cob. Season with fresh butter 
and salt. 

Paul Stillman's Corn Bread. 

Mix with four cups of corn meal one cup of wheat flour ; 
put in a cup of hot water one teaspoonful of carbonate of 
soda, or by weight one drachm, with which thoroughly wet 
the meal ; two or three eggs are an improvement ; then mix 
in a little water one half of the same measure, or an equal 
weight, of muriatic acid, and stir it thoroughly with the mass. 
Spread in a tin pie-pan, and bake immediately in a quick 
oven. In this recipe, observes Mr. Stillman, the carbonate 
of soda and muriatic acid combine, and, forming muriate of 
soda (common salt), give out carbonic-acid gas to inflate or 
raise the bread. The salt formed in raising the bread is no 
more than should be used were it added before its combina- 
tion, and entirely avoids the common objection, where salera- 
tus is used, of having potash in the bread. 

CRANBERRY. This useful berry is, among condiments, 
the very sheet-anchor of the New England housewife. 

The wild Cranberry of New England ( Oxycoccus macro- 
carpus) is larger and finer than the European Cranberry 
(0. pulastris), and it is largely exported. 

It grows mostly in mossy wet land, yet beds are easily 
prepared in moist or peaty soils, and if thoroughly decayed 
manure is added, the berries will be larger and finer than the 
wild ones. Mr. Downing has said, that a square of the size of 
twenty feet, planted in this way, will yield three or four bush- 
els annually, — quite sufficient for a family. Plants taken 



CREAMS. 137 

up like squares of sod or turf, and planted two or three feet 
apart, quickly cover beds. Land otherwise useless is often 
drained and turned to profitable account, by cultivating this 
fruit ; and as its value increases yearly, it cannot otherwise 
than repay the little trouble of making beds. The best cran- 
berries sell some seasons at twelve dollars a barrel. 

Cranberries are sometimes kept in cold water. They 
may be frozen without injury, but should not be exposed to 
extremes of heat and cold. 

Cranberry Sauce. 

Having picked and washed your cranberries, put them 
into a kettle with a little water. Simmer them gently for 
half an hour. Stir in powdered sugar and let it simmer 
twenty minutes, stirring it frequently. When cool, pour it 
into an earthen jar, and cover. 

Cranberry-Sauce Jelly. 

Add to two quarts of picked cranberries one quart of 
pounded loaf-sugar, and one half-pint of water; let it boil 
three quarters of an hour. Dip it off into moulds. 

CREAMS. Creams may be put into moulds and frozen, 
or they may be frozen like ice-cream, or served plain in a 
large glass dish. If moulded, a little dissolved isinglass is 
added to the ingredients, but only for shapes, as egg eats bet- 
ter. Creams made too rich will not freeze ; if deficient in 
richness, they will not set in a firm mass. 

Creams differ chiefly in the flavoring ingredients, which 
may be of chocolate, lemon, vanilla, almond, pistachio, or 
other matters, fruit jellies often being used. 

Creams poured over some light cakes, placed in a glass 
dish, and set on ice till eaten, make a delicate dessert 
dish. 

12* 



138 croquettes. 

Vanilla Cream. 

Put a vanilla bean into a pint of rich milk, and let it boil 
till thoroughly flavored. In another saucepan put the yolks 
of six well-beaten eggs, to which has been added, gradually, 
six large table-spoonfuls of sifted loaf-sugar. Beat it well. 
Take the bean from the milk, which strain into a pint of 
fresh cream. Warm the egg over the fire, stirring constant- 
ly, and not allowing it to boil ; but when a litfle thick, take it 
oif, strain it through a coarse silk sieve, and stir it rapidly 
into the cream and milk. Pour it into a large glass dish, or 
into cups or glasses. See Almond Cream. 

CROQUETTES. These cakes may be made of the re- 
mains of white fowl, veal sweetbread, delicate fish, rice, or 
macaroni. 

Meat Croquettes. 

Chop the lean parts of the fowl or veal, and moisten them 
with butter and flour mixed smoothly, and a little onion, 
chopped very fine ; put the whole with a little pepper and 
salt in a stewpan over the fire. If not suffciently moist, add 
a little boiled cream or white broth, or sauce that may have 
been left from the meal before. Stir it well, and as it begins 
to warm, stir in rapidly the yolks of two or three eggs. Let 
it remain about three minutes longer, stirring it all the time, 
when take it out and let it cool. Divide it into pieces, which 
roll out into small bolster forms, and rub each piece into 
grated bread. Fry them a bright brown color, and drain 
them well. Serve them hot. 

Croquettes of Rice. 

Put two large cups of well-washed rice into boiling milk, 
a little more than enough to cover the rice. Let it simmer 
slowly until tender, when add a small piece of fresh butter, 



CURRANTS. 139 

some sugar which, previous to pounding, has been rubbed 
with the rind of a lemon, and the jolks of five eggs. Let it 
thicken, but do not allow it to boil. Stir it well together. 
Take it off, and when cool roll it into small bolster forms. 
Dip each one into some well-beaten egg, and fry them in a 
rice-basket of open wire-work, which should be placed in a 
stewpan. Fry them a very light brown, drain them, and 
sift white sugar over them. Put them on a white napkin in 
sending them to the table. 

CUCUMBER ( Oiicumis sativus) . This cooling vegetable, 
though well known to the Romans, was regarded in England 
no longer ago than during the reign of Charles 11. as little 
less than poisonous. Since then French genius has culti- 
vated it into thousand shapes ; but as it requires French prac- 
tice to stuff and stew cucumbers, we forbear giving receipts 
for this mode of serving. 

When sliced, they should be soaked some time before 
dinner in plenty of cold water ; then drained, and seasoned 
with salt, pepper, and vinegar. Set the dish into a larger 
one, containing bits of ice. See Pickles. 

CURRANTS. Red and White (Bibes ruhrum). Black 
Currants {R. nigrum). The Currant is a native of Britain 
and the North of Europe, and consequently hardy. It is the 
practice now to grow this fruit in the tree form. Plant slips 
or cuttings (never suckers), in the autumn or early spring, in 
such parts of the garden as will most facilitate their rooting. 
In order to ward against suckers being produced, cut off the 
eyes or buds of the cutting as far up as you intend shall be 
buried in the soil. 

When the plants are transplanted to their final resting- 
place, care should be taken to train them from one main 
stem, and every winter superfluous wood should be thinned 



140 CURRANTS. 

out. Where large fruit is coveted, nip off the growing 
shoots in the middle of June, when the fruit is about half 
grown, and the vigor of the plant spends itself on the grow- 
ing fruit. Plants six or eight years old should be removed 
for younger ones. 

The present splendid garden sorts of Currants come from 
Holland, and the Red and White Dutch varieties have thrown 
-out of esteem the common garden sorts, wherever the first 
can be obtained. 

Black Currants {R. nigrum). 

The Black Naples is much superior to the common Eng- 
lish Black Currant. It has the peculiarity of blossoming ear- 
lier than the common kinds, while it produces its fruit later. 

Ornamental Varieties. 

The Missouri Currant (Rihes aureum), with yello\Y fra- 
grant blossoms, is a well-known variety, and owes its pres- 
ent cultivation to Captains Lewis and Clarke, who, in May, 
1804, were sent by Congress to explore the regions of the 
Rocky Mountains, and to discover the source of the Oregon 
River. It has a variety called the Large-Fruited Missouri 
Currant. 

The Red Flowering Currant {R. sanguinewn) bears 
clusters of light-crimson blossoms in early spring. The flow- 
ers are large and showy, but this Currant is not hardy enough 
to survive New England winters. It will not thrive north 
of New York. It has several varieties which display white 
and pale pink flowers. 

Though I have spoken of the tree-training for this fruit, I 
must not omit to remark that many excellent cultivators pre- 
fer the bush form. Among others, we have the authority of 
Mr. S. W. Cole (American Fruit ^Book) against tree-train- 
ing, and my own experience coincides with his.. 



CURRY. 141 



Currant Wine. 



Pick your fruit on a dry day, and make your wine on the 
same day you gather it. Take the currants from the stems, 
bruise and press them, and strain the juice from them. To 
every gallon of currant juice add two gallons of pure soft 
water, and twelve pounds of the best loaf-sugar. Mix well 
till the sugar is dissolved. Put the whole into a keg, and 
let it ferment twelve or fourteen days, covering the bung- 
hole with coarse muslin. The keg or cask should be filled 
so that impurities may escape at the bung. At the expira- 
tion of the twelfth or fourteenth day, beat up the whites of 
five or six eggs, and stir them into the cask. Put in the 
bung lightly at first, a little firmer on the second day, and on 
the third, secure it well, and cover with bottle cement. Let 
it stand five or six months, when rack it off, and, if not j)er- 
fectly clear, it may be refined with isinglass, milk, or the 
addition of more white of egsr. See Jellies, 



^OO' 



CURRY. This powder is dealt in largely commercially, 
but it is frequently shamefully adulterated by the mixture of 
red-lead, and other substances, if not as poisonous, equally 
uncalled for. Besides, the packages which are purchased 
are not suitable for all dishes. From these considerations 
many persons buy the different substances which make curry- 
powder, dry and powder them, and, keeping them carefully 
from the air, mix them as they need the curry, and in such 
proportions as the dish may require. 

The principal ingredients m this powder are turmeric, 
ginger, cayenne, mustard, and pepper, softened by some aro- 
matic spice ; cinnamon, coriander, and cardamon seed being 
generally used. Turmeric is disagreeable to many persons ; 
it is the root of the Curcuma longa, a native of the East 
Indies. 



142 CUTLERY. 

Curry-powder, where it is mixed in any quantity to keep, 
is usually in tlie following proportions : — To an ounce each 
of black pepper, mustard, and ginger, one half-ounce only 
of cayenne, and three ounces of turmeric, with a quarter of 
an ounce of cinnamon and a quarter of an ounce of cumin, 
three ounces of coriander seed, and half an ounce of carda- 
mon seed. Each ingredient should be thoroughly dried, re- 
duced to a powder, carefully sifted, well mixed, and closely 
stoppered in a clean bottle and kept in a dry place. 

CUSTARD. Break off about an inch and a half from a 
vanilla bean, put it in a quart of milk, and let it boil in a 
porcelain-lined kettle, or in a tin pudding-pail set into hot 
water. Take it off and remove the bit of bean. When the 
milk has cooled, stir in ten well-beaten eggs, and one even 
cup of loaf-sugar. Strain the whole through a coarse sieve, 
and pour it into a tin pudding-pail, which set into a pot of 
boiling water, and let it boil for fifteen minutes. Take it out 
in china cups and grate nutmeg over each cup, or, if you 
please, mount them with whipped cream. 

If you boil the milk in a porcelain-lined kettle, cover it 
when you put it over the fire, and have the kettle well rubbed 
before putting the milk in, as milk is, without care, very 
easily scorched and burnt. 

CUTLERY. Steel should be kept as dry as possible, yet 
dry furnace-heat often sphts the handles. 

To remove rust, rub the knives well with mutton-suet or 
fowl's grease, and let it remain a day or two, when rub dry 
with unslacked lime finely powdered, or with emery, applied 
either with a cork or soft wood. 

Clean cutlery with powdered Bristol brick on a board, 
rubbing with a cork wet occasionally in a vessel of soft water. 
Wipe dry with wash-leather, and clear with a clean knife- 
cloth. 



DAIRY-COW. 143 

Wash knives in warm, but not hot suds, and if a knife- 
washer is not used, have the knives placed in a mug, not 
deep enough to reach the handles. Servants will be careless 
about these matters. 

Coverino; with caoutchouc-varnish has been tested as a 
protection for polished steel, but it is too expensive for com- 
mon purposes. Knives that are not in common use may be 
heated and rubbed with mutton-suet or fowl's grease, heated 
again, and, while hot, rubbed with white wax, and polished 
with soft leather, wrapped separately in brown paper, and 
put away in a dry place. 

CIMLINS. Gather these summer squashes while they 
are tender enough readily to yield to the pressure of the 
nail. Peel, and having divided them, and taken out the seed, 
boil them rapidly till tender. Drain them well, and with a 
wooden spoon pass them through a colander. Put the pulp 
into a stewpan with a piece of butter, a gill of cream, a little 
white pepper and salt. Stir constantly till the squash is dry. 
Serve in a hot dish. 

DAIRY-COW. The domestic Ox [Bos taurus) has been 
so long a servant to man, that from what parent stock he 
has been derived is mere matter of conjecture. Like the 
dog, he adapts himself to all circumstances. " Where food is 
scanty," says Professor Low, " he scarcely exceeds the di- 
mensions of the deer ; but where it is abundant, he reaches 
to enormous size. He is found from the equator almost to 
the limits of vegetable life, and is everywhere subservient to 
the wants and convenience of the human race." 

The breeds of British cattle are very numerous, Great 
Britain, as the author above quoted remarks, being remarka- 
ble for the excellence and number of her sheep and oxen, 
and owing no little part of her opulence to this cause. 



144 DAIKY-COW. 

The breed most cultivated for the dairy in the British 
Islands is the Ayrshire Breed, derived from the county of 
Ayr, but found in many of the dairy districts of Scotland 
and of Ireland. "As now cultivated and improved," says 
Professor Low, " it is well defined in its characters. The in- 
dividuals are of medium size, of various colors, and have 
short horns. Their limbs are delicate, their foreheads nar- 
row, their shoulders thin, and their fore-quarters light. This is 
a form which is valued in the female, as indicating a disposi- 
tion to secrete milk ; but it does not correspond with the form 
of an animal which indicates a tendency to grow to great size, 
and fatten readily." These cows do not enjoy in the richest 
dairy districts of England all the reputation they possess in 
their own country ; but the breed has been much improved 
within the last fifty years. 

The Short-horned Durham Breed has been extensively 
imported into the United States ; it is considered as combin- 
ing a larger number of valuable properties than any of the 
large breeds. 

The Alderney Breed have short crumpled horns, are of 
small size, and ungraceful forms. They are from the Nor- 
man Islands of the British Channel. The Island of Jersey 
has the palm for the superiority of her race. The inhab- 
itants, whose riches they are, guard the purity of the breed 
by interdicting the importation of foreign animals. These 
animals are not strong, and require a temperate climate ; but 
the milk of the female is excellent in color and quality. 
Professor Low says of this breed : " Considerable numbers 
of the cows are imported into the southern counties of Eng- 
land, where they are kept for the luxury of the opulent, or 
partially employed in the regular dairies, to give richness to 
the milk." 

The North Devon Breed of England are admirable for 
active labor, and the milk of the female is rich, and under 
favorable circumstances abundant. 



DAIRY-COW. 145 

Cows require a liigli, well-ventilated stable, clean litter, 
good water, daily currying, and to be foddered three times 
every day while enclosed. 

In winter, when they are stalled, the food of cows should 
be as varied as possible. Ruta-bagas and turnips may be 
mixed with potatoes, parsnips with pumpkins and squashes, 
cabbages with corn-meal ; indeed, both cabbages and tur- 
nips should be qualified with potatoes or meal, as they 
otherwise impart an ill flavor or watery properties to 
milk. Vegetables should always be cut, and a part of their 
food during the winter should be boiled or steamed, and 
have occasionally about two ounces of salt mixed with it. 
Sweet apples boiled in water, and mixed with coarse bran 
or Indian meal, may be given, where apples are plenty, with 
advantage. Carrots give the finest color and flavor to milk, 
and consequently to butter. 

After the cow has eaten her carrots or turnips, or what- 
ever fodder she may have given her, a little oat-straw or 
hay should be thrown into her crib. This should be done 
after each meal. Keep the stable scrupulously clean. 

The cow carries her young about forty weeks. The calf 
is quietly removed on being born, before the cow recognizes 
her, as separation always distresses her. The cow is then 
milked, and some meal-gruel given her. The first milk of 
the cow is fit only for the stomach of the calf. 

If you wish to economize your milk, and the calf is in- 
tended for veal, the usual practice is to allow her but one 
teat (if the cow is a generous milker) for the first few days, 
and to give the calf meal and porridge. Still it is poor 
economy to stint the calf, and she should be fed three times 
a day regularly, and at the same hours. When the calf is 
four weeks old, she requires almost all the cow's milk, or 
the last drawn from several cows. A little chalk is some- 
times given to them in their cribs, and about half an ounce 

13 



146 DYES. 

of salt is also daily administered. Calves are considered 
good veal in five, six, and ten weeks. Calves require a 
good deal of attention. The straw under their feet should 
be often replaced by fresh litter, they should be kept per- 
fectly dry, and fresh air should circulate in the stable where 
they are confined. 

Corn-stalks, husks of bean, and dry pea-pods, and similar 
matters that are dry, clean, and not too harsh, should be hus- 
banded for littering stables. 

Cow's teats should be frequently sponged in warm soft 
water, and if in spring they become hard, rub them with 
goose-fat, as this grease has the property of resisting evap- 
oration for a long time. Melt, or render it, as you do mut- 
ton-suet or lard, and keep it in a jar covered with blad- 
der. (Low's Elements of Agriculture. Stephens's Book of 
the Farm.) 

DIARRHOEA. If the complaint is obstinate, dissolve in 
a teacup of vinegar as much salt as you can. Take one 
table-spoonful of this vinegar so prepared, and pour on it 
one cup of boiling water. Drink one table-spoonful of 
this every two hours ; if the disease is mild, however, three 
times a day will be sufficient. Two spoonfuls, following the 
directions exactly, may be taken at a dose, where the com- 
plaint is violent. Follow the directions carefully. See 
JBlachherry Cordial. 

DUCKS. See Fowls. 

DYES. Dyeing substances have been classed by Dr. Ban- 
croft into substantive colors, which unite readily with the ma- 
terial to be dyed, and adjective colors, which require a third 
agent that must have an affinity for both color and stuff to be 
dyed. These agents which thus fix the color are called mor- 



DYES. 147 

dants. It is frequently difficult to say which is the color 
and which the mordant. 

Among substances employed as mordants are included 
numerous oxides and salts ; the principal are the acetate of 
alumina, the sulphate or acetate of iron, and the muriate of 
tin. The material to be dyed is first impregnated with the 
mordant, before being dipped in the solution of the coloring- 
matter. Mordants, besides fixing the color, often brighten 
the tint. 

Substances used for dyeing are exceedingly numerous ; 
the mineral, animal, and vegetable kingdoms all pay tribute 
to this exquisite art. 

Blue Dyes. 

The Indigo of commerce is the chief blue dye. The best 
kind is the Indigofera tinctoria. The green parts of the 
plant are cut before flowering, put into large vats with water, 
when fermentation takes place, and the indigo settles into 
powdery, pulpy matter ; its color is at first green, but by ex- 
posure to air it absorbs oxygen, and assumes a blue color. 
This plant is cultivated only in warm climates. 

Indigo is also found in Woad, Isatis tinctoria, and some 
other vegetables. Woad, before the introduction of Indigo- 
fera, was very extensively cultivated in the North of Europe. 
The coloring-matter of this plant also is obtained from the 
leaves ; the processes for obtaining it are generally less artifi- 
cial than those used for the indigo-plant. 

Indigo is capable of distillation or sublimation by a mod- 
erate heat, and, on being burnt, emits a fine purple smoke. 
Indigo is insoluble in water and alcohol, and alkalies have 
only partial eflect on it ; it is rendered soluble by being put 
into the dyer's vat with various deoxidizing agents, where, 
after the fermentation has continued some time, the surface of 
the liquor will be blue, and that not offered to the atmos- 



148 DYES. 

phere green ; but substances clipped into this deoxidized in- 
digo, though at first they show a green color, become blue 
when exposed to the air. 

Indigo, it is well known, may be dissolved in sulphuric 
acid without changing color. Blues dyed with this solution 
are known as Saxon-blues ; they are less permanent than 
those derived from the green liquor. 

Indigo requires no mordant or basis to assist its combina- 
tion with cloth. 

In calico-printing, indigo is ground with some deoxidizing 
agent, wet with starch or gum to proper consistency, and 
applied to the blocks which form the pattern ; the calico then 
receives alternate baths of lime-water and a solution of sul- 
phate of iron, until the indigo is sufficiently dissolved to give 
a fixed color. 

Red Dyes. 

Most of the substances used as red dyes require mordants 
before they can be fixed on cloth. Logwood, safflower, archil, 
Brazil-wood, cochineal, and madder, are substances largely 
employed for red dyes, and are all adjective colors. 

Logwood is the wood of the Hcematoxylon Campeachianum, 
which is found in Tropical America. A decoction of logwood 
yields a fine red, with a violet or purple tint, which, if not 
arrested by some agent, becomes in time yellowish, and final- 
ly subsides into black. The violet color may be fixed by 
alum, and a blue may be obtained by verdigris. But it is 
for blacks that logwood is principally valued ; it imparts to 
them great softness and depth of tone. 

Safflower is obtained from the leaves of the Carthamus 
tinciorius. The coloring matter has little permanency. It 
is familiarly known as a pink dye, spread on saucers. " The 
fine rose-color of safflower," says Dr. Bancroft, " extracted 
by crystallized soda, and precipitated by citric acid, and then 
slowly dried in the shade, being afterwards finely ground 



DYES. 149 

with the purest talc, produces the beautiful paint by which 
ladies give to their cheeks the bloom of youth and health, 
and which the French distinguish from carmine by the name 
of rouge vegetahJ* 

The dye from safflower is of two kinds, yellow and red ; 
the first is separated by maceration in running water, the re- 
maining is the exquisite red, the rouge vegetale. The plant 
is cultivated in various parts of Europe, but it is principally 
from Egypt and the Levant that the commercial supplies 
are realized. The flowers of this plant are not the only use- 
ful part of it ; while they assist the dyer and painter, the 
seeds contain an oil used alike in medicine and painting. 
Safflower is sometimes called Bastard Saffron. 

Archil is a dye obtained from the Lichen rocceUa, found 
chiefly in the Canary Islands. The Dutch litmus or turnsol, 
a blue pigment, is made of the red coloring substance of this 
lichen and an alkali ; on the application of an acid, the color- 
ing matter is disengaged, and the red tint is restored. Lit- 
mus is thus used as a dye, and employed by the chemist to 
test the presence of a free acid. 

Brazil-wood is the heart of the Ccesdlpinia echinata, a 
tree of Brazil. It yields, with solutions of alumina and tin, 
brilliant red tints, which, however, are deficient in durability. 
Acids turn the infusion yellow before the application of alum, 
which, added, brings it red again, affording a precipitate 
which is employed as an inferior sort of carmine ; the addi- 
tion of an alkali facilitates the precipitation. 

Cochineal has already been mentioned. Red morocco 
owes its exquisite color to the dye obtained from cochineal, 
though a similar color was formerly produced in Southern 
Europe and Asia by the use of Kermes, a dye derived from 
the insect Coccus ilicis, and also from lac, a gum which 
exudes from the Ficus ladica and other trees. Goat-skins 
form the basis of red morocco. 
13* 



150 DYES. 

In 1630 it was discovered in Holland that the oxide of tin 
had the power of exalting the scarlet color of cochineal, and 
soon after one of the celebrated MM. Gobelins, at Paris, 
availed themselves of the discovery in their famed tapestries. 
The nitrate or nitromuriate of tin produces the natural color 
of cochineal-crimson, which is changed to scarlet by the 
tartar employed in the process. Cochineal is soluble in 
water, and is fixed on clotli by means of alumina or the 
oxide of tin. 

Madder, the root of the Rubia tinctorum, is one of the 
most valuable drugs used for dyeing. The plant is much 
cultivated in Europe, and particularly in PloUand. It tinges 
with red the bones of the animals that feed on it. Madder 
produces, by the medium of different mordants, every shade 
of red, purple, and black. 

Smyrna Madder is the root of the Rubia peregrina, and 
the dye obtained from it is principally used for dyeing the 
Turkey red on cotton, with the adjuncts of oil, galls, alum, 
and some blood (which appears to exalt the color), and sub- 
stances which, in passing through the alimentary canal of 
sheep, have imbibed and retained some of the gastric fluids ; 
the manufacture of Turkey cotton being a complicated process. 

Yellow Dyes. 

The yellow dyes in most common use are the quercitron- 
bark, weld, fustic, saffron, turmeric, and hickory. 

Quercitron-bark, the most valuable of the yellow dyes, was 
discovered by Dr. Bancroft, to whom the English govern- 
ment, with its accustomed liberality, granted the right of 
disposal for a number of years. This dye is an extract 
from the bark of the Quercus tinctoria, or common black 
oak of the United States. Like most of the yellow dyes, 
it is an adjective color. With a basis of alumina, the de- 
coction presents a bright yellow dye ; with the oxide of tin, a 



DYES. 151 

variety of tints is afforded, from a pale lemon to deep orange. 
The oxide of iron gives a drab color. 

"Weld, Reseda Luteola, is of the Resedacete or Mignonette 
family. It is the most easy of cultivation of any of the dye- 
plants. It is generally biennial, and pulled up in the second 
year of its growth, while in flower, before it goes to seed. 
The roots are dried by being set upright four together. When 
they are dry, which will be in about a week, they are put 
into larger bundles for sale. "When stacked in the dry state, 
it will keep for years ; but when extracted from the stalk, 
it should be used, as it soon ferments and becomes worth- 
less. 

Fustic is the w^ood of a tree native to the "West Indies, the 
Morus tinctoria. It affords, with alum, a less bright, but 
more permanent, yellow than the preceding yellow dyes. It 
assists also in producing green and drab colors. 

Saffron Crocus {Crocus sativus) is a plant cultivated 
from bulbs. The dye produced is from the stigma and style 
of the plant. The yellow dye is very fugitive ; by the addi- 
tion of sulphuric acid, a blue is obtained, and then lilac, and 
on the application of nitric acid it assumes a green tint. 

Turmeric is the root already mentioned in the article Cur- 
ry. It is a native of the East Indies, the Curcuma longa. 
Curcuma paper is that which is stained with a decoction of 
the dye, and is used by chemists to detect a free alkali, the 
presence of which it betrays by a brown stain. 

A yellow dye is obtained from several species of Ameri- 
can Walnut or Hickory, particularly from the Juglans or 
Carya alba, the bark, leaves, and rinds all yielding a dye 
similar to Quercitron, but less in quantity. 

Annotto, Bixa Orellana, a shrub of Tropical America, has 
already been mentioned. 

French berries, Rhamnus tinctoria, yield a lively but fu- 
gitive yellow. 



152 DYES. 



Black Dyes. 



These are of the same ingredients as writing-ink ; the black 
dye, therefore, usually contains oxide of iron, tannin, and 
gallic acid ; logwood and the acetate of copper imparting, 
when added, a blue shade. As the immediate application of 
the black dye would, through quantity, be apt to injure the 
cloth, the best black woollen cloths are first dyed red with 
madder, and blue with indigo. Frequently ordinary wool- 
lens receive for the first dye logwood only, with a salt of cop- 
per ; but a black is obtained which always turns brown and 
rusty-colored in wear. 

Black silks have generally a decoction of galls applied 
first ; the galls, being more attracted by the silks than the 
iron, are therefore the true mordant. After this the silk is 
subjected to alternate baths of sulphate of iron and a decoc- 
tion of logwood, repeated till a deep black appears. Cotton 
has usually the iron applied first. 

Black vats, with iron and various vegetable matters, are 
frequently kept for an immense length of time unemptied, as 
it is believed they improve by age. 

The Red maple (Acer ruhrum) of the United States, ap- 
plied with the sulphate or acetate of iron, gives, as discovered 
by Dr. Bancroft, a more perfect black than any of the com- 
mon vegetable dyes. With alum it yields a permanent cin- 
namon-color, both upon cotton and wool. The bark and 
leaves are both used. 

The common Nutgall, as is well known, is an excres- 
cence produced by the puncture of an insect, a species of 
cynips, upon an Asiatic species of oak ( Qiiercus infectoria). 
Besides tannin and gallic acid. Dr. Bancroft has detected a 
coloring matter. With an aluminous basis, galls yield a 
fawn or light cinnamon color. 

The bark of Butternut (Juglans cathartica) gives to cot- 



EGGS. 153 

ton, with an aluminous basis, a permanent brown, and com- 
municates the same to wool, without any mordant. 

" By the dexterous combination of the four leading colors," 
says Dr. Bigelow in his Useful Arts, " blue, red, yellow, and 
black, all other shades of color may be produced. Thus green 
is communicated by forming a blue ground with indigo, and 
then addhig a yellow by means of quercitron-bark. One of 
the^latest improvements in the art of dyeing consists in the 
employment of colors derived from the mineral kingdom. 
Prussian blue, orpiment, chromate of lead, and other min- 
eral compounds, have, by appropriate processes, been made 
to communicate their colors to different stuffs. An abstract 
of the processes is given m lire's Notes to Berthollet on 
Dyeing." 

See Bancroft on Permanent Color ; Professor Low's Ele- 
ments of Agriculture, Art. Plants cultivated for Dyes ; 
Bigelow's Useful Arts ; and an interesting article in Quar- 
terly Review (English), entitled Dr. Bancroft on Permanent 
Colors, Art. XIV., 1814. 

* 

EGGS. Various ways are recommended for preserving 
eggs. One way is to pack them in a keg, and then pour 
over them lime-v/ater, which should be prepared thus : — 
Take a gallon of soft water, throw in a handful of clean salt, 
and a quart-bowlful of unslacked lime ; when it is cold, pour 
it carefully over the packed eggs. 

Eggs may also be rubbed with fresh butter, or dipped in 
liquid mutton-suet or beef-suet. In either case they are no 
longer capable of being hatched. "Where a few only are to 
be preserved, they may be smeared with some sweet butter 
or fat, hung in a net, and daily turned upside down. 

Three minutes is the usual rule for boilino; eg-o-s of the 
average size. Eggs should not be cooked till eight or ten 



154 EGG-PLANT. 

hours after being laid, as previous to this time the white of 
the egg presents a thin, milky appearance on being boiled. 

Dropped Egg. 

Have the water boiling, drop the egg in without breaking 
the yolk ; have ready slices of buttered toast, and when the 
egg has set, remove it with the egg-slice to the top of the 
toast, taking care again not to break the yolk. This is the 
lightest form of cooking eggs, and therefore best suited to 
invalids. 

Omelettes. 

These preparations, to be successful, require practice, and 
an omelette or small frying-pan. 

Break five eggs in a dish, season with a little salt, a dust 
of pepper, half a tea-spoonful of boiled chopped parsley, the 
same quantity of young onion, also chopped very fine, and 
beat all well together. 

Melt in the frying-pan two ounces of butter, and pour the 
egg in. Stir it, but when it shows signs of hardening, begin 
to shape it with the spoon, and by tipping the pan up so that 
the egg may occupy only a small part of the pan. When a 
very delicate brown is supposed to be attained, turn it upon 
a dish, with the browned side top. Omelettes should not be 
overdone. They may be varied to almost any amount. Del- 
icate vegetables, such as boiled cauliflower, or herbs, or boiled 
chopped ham, may be beaten into the egg. Omelettes should 
be served hot. 

Poached Egg. 

Beat six eggs well, put them in a stewpan with about 
three ounces of butter. Stir them constantly for three min- 
utes. Serve on hot buttered toast. 

EGG-PLANT {Solanum 3Ielonge7ia). Of this delicate 
plant there are two varieties, the white and purple. The 



FAT. 155 

last is for the table, the white being more ornamental, but 
rarely nsed. 

Select young fruit that has just reached maturity. Par- 
boil them, and drain off the water. When cool, slice th^n 
about an inch thick, and fry them in batter made of egg, 
milk, and flour, or dip each slice in egg, and then in grated 
bread-crumbs that are seasoned with salt and pepper. Fry 
them a delicate brown. They are much used at the South, 
where they are thought to resemble soft crabs in taste. 

EIDER-DOWN. The down of the Eider-duck, called 
also the Gothland duck. This duck is found principally in 
Iceland, in the Hebrides, Shetland, and Orkney Islands, 
though it is found as far south as the Fame Isles off the 
coast of Northumberland, and in the rocky islets beyond Port- 
land in America. The down, so highly esteemed for bed- 
quilts, is collected from the nests of the birds. When the 
nest is stripped for the first time, the female again supplies 
it from her breast ; but a second robbery brings the male to 
her rescue, who then furnishes the nest with down from his 
breast. 

FAT. According as this part of animal flesh differs in 
different animals, its name varies ; in the horse and bear it 
is called grease, in the ox and sheep, tallow, fat, suet ; and 
in the hog, hog's lard. 

The characters which indicate a disposition in the ox and 
other domesticated animals to secrete fat, are fineness of 
the bones, the largeness of the body as compared with the 
smallness of the extremities, — limbs, head, and neck, — the 
broadness of the chest, the roundness of the body, and the 
soft, elastic touch of the skin. This form is not the same that 
is looked for in the female ox as showing a disposition to se- 
crete milk, where, as it has been remarked, the limbs should 



156 FIG. 

be delicate, the forehead narrow, the shoulders thin, and the 
fore-quarters light. (Low's Elements of Agriculture.) 

**FIG. The fig is one of the oldest fruits known. In the 
United States it is generally cultivated in the shrub form, so 
that it can be easily protected during the winter. It is prop- 
agated by cuttings, which are taken off early in the spring, 
and planted in the light soil of a hot-bed. On being removed, 
they should be placed in a mellow, calcareous soil, and the 
compost should be corrected with marl or mild lime ; they 
may be transplanted the same season. Mr. Downing recom- 
mends root-pruning for the fig as cultivated in the United 
States. " Short-jointed wood, and only moderate vigor of 
growth, are," he remarks, " well-known accompaniments of 
fruitfulness in this tree ; and there is no means by which 
firm, well-ripened, short-jointed wood is so easily obtained, 
as by an annual pruning of the roots, — cutting off all that 
project more than half the length of the branches." Root- 
pruning on the fig is performed early in November. 

In foreign culture the fig is frequently subjected, while the 
fruit is maturing, to a singular custom. To assist it in ripening 
the fruit, it is punctured before it reaches maturity with a 
hollow straw that has been dipped in olive-oil, a single drop 
of oil being passed near the eye into each fig. Mr. Down- 
ing observed the custom so far as to touch the ends of 
the fig with the finger dipped in oil, and thought the fruit 
ripened more speedily and swelled to a larger size for the 
practice. 

South of Virginia the fig needs no covering of soil, or 
straw, or branches of evergreens, during the winter, but 
grows easily as a standard tree. 

Where figs are not perfectly fresh, they may be put into 
an oven of very moderate heat, and plumped, and then 
rubbed with a coarse towel. 



FISH. 157 

FISH. The Pythagoreans are said to have abstained 
from fish, out of respect to their taciturnity. Moderns, how- 
ever, with an inquisitiveness that annihilates reverence, have 
found out that some, if not all fish, have a weakness for colors ; 
that perch can be decoyed into drum-nets by daffodils, or 
any bright-yellow flowers. It is also said, that by rubbing 
your hands with assafoetida, fish will allow themselves to be 
taken from the water, as readily as by the exquisite artificial 
flies of the hook-and-line fisherman. 

All Greeks not having equal forbearance with the follow- 
ers of Pythagoras, we find the Thunny, which is to the South 
of Europe what the Mackerel is to the North, in great favor 
as an article of food among the early Greeks. 

From the Romans, the famous pickle, Garum or Garus, 
has come down to us ; it derived its name from a crustaceous 
animal so called, from which it was sometimes made ; but 
Pliny says a fish called Scomber, which some think may 
have been our mackerel, was also employed to make this 
pickle, and remarks further, that Apicius used the liver of 
the mullet for this purpose. 

The classification of fish according to some natural and 
clearly defined orders has been acknowledged by the acutest 
intellects to be extremely difficult ; for the successful perform- 
ance of the task, the great Cuvier found himself not prepared, 
and it is to our illustrious citizen, M. Agassiz, that this ex- 
tensive branch of natural history owes a debt, which should 
be discharged in the immediate gratitude of the present gen- 
eration, and the accumulated admiration of succeeding ones. 
Long as America can appreciate genius may such names be 
gathered under her stars and stripes. 

Fishes are naturally long-lived. Their age has been de- 
monstrated by fastening a ring, with the date inscribed, to the 
gill-covers. One of the most celebrated fish-stories is that 
of the pike of Frederic the Second. This monarch had a 
14 



158 FISH. 

ring so fastened to a pike, with the date, 1487, and the king's 
order, appended, and the fish thrown into his pond, near 
his castle of Kaiserslautern. The pike was taken in 1754, 
when it had consequently attained the age of two hundred 
and sixty-seven years. It weighed three hundred and fifty 
pounds, and was nineteen feet long. 

The senses of smell and hearing have no external avenue 
in fishes, but the former is said to be the most acute of all 
their senses. In their natural element their motions exceed 
in swiftness and duration the flight of birds, the shark being 
swifter and more untiring than the eagle, and the herring 
and salmon more raj^id than the swallow. Generally the 
eye of the fish is unprotected with eyelids, being made to 
resist the water, as the terrestrial animal is to live in air. 

I shall proceed to give a short account of some of the most 
important edible fish. By a benevolent Providence those 
classes which constitute the most wholesome food for man 
are the most numerous. 

The Herring lives in the Arctic seas of Europe, Asia, 
and America, migrating southward, at different seasons of 
the year, in vast shoals, to obtain food and deposit their 
spawn. These shoals, which are led by the largest and 
strongest, and divided into bands as they proceed, which visit 
different islands and countries, are followed by larger fish, 
which devour them, and by flocks of gulls and marine birds, 
whose noise and numbers announce the approach of the fish. 
These migrations are said to take place at three different 
times. The first, when the ice begins to melt, to the end of 
June ; then comes the summer migration ; the autumn one fol- 
lows, lasting till the midst of September. They deposit their 
spawn where stones and marine plants are found. The 
millions of these fish that are annually taken by English, 
Dutch, and American seamen, by the Norwegians and other 
European nations, are hardly to be computed. Against 



FISH. 159 

these annual drains, and the constant attacks of larger fish, 
is provided the fecundity of the herring, the spawn of each 
female containing from thirty to forty thousand eggs. 

Who first salted herrings cannot be decided, some authori- 
ties giving the honor of the invention to William Deukelzoon, 
a fisherman of Dutch Flanders, who lived in the end of the 
fourteenth century, others bestowing it upon William Benck- 
els or Benkelings of Biervliet, over whose grave the Em- 
peror Charles the Fifth is reported to have eaten a her- 
ring, in token of his appreciation of the importance of the 
invention. The smokinsr of herring was first undertaken at 
Dieppe in Normandy. 

Hardly less valuable is the Codfish. It is found between 
the fortieth and sixtieth degrees of north latitude, both in 
the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, making its home on the 
gi'eat shallows and sand-banks, of which the most celebrat- 
ed is the great bank of Newfoundland. Towards the end 
of winter or the beginning of spring, the codfish seeks the 
coast to deposit its spawn. The codfish, with fewer enemies, 
is still more productive than the herring, more than nine 
millions of eggs having been discovered in a codfish of the 
middle size. 

The Haddock belongs to the codfish genus. This fish as- 
sembles in vast shoals during the winter months, in every 
part of the Northern Ocean, forming banks sometimes twenty- 
four miles long by three broad, and bending their course 
generally southward, proceeding beyond the limits of the cod 
and the herring ; but it has been remarked that they neither 
enter the Baltic nor the Mediterranean. 

The Hake is also an inferior species of the codfish genus ; 
it is known also under the name of Stock-fish, and " Poor 
John." 

The Mackerel is another tribe of migi-atory fish. It frequents 
the Arctic, Antarctic, and Mediterranean Seas, as well as the 



160 



FISH. 



Atlantic Ocean, hybernating in the first-mentioned seas, select- 
ing depths that are land-locked and calm as sheltered pools. 
The depth of these retreats lessens in proportion as they are 
near the shore, and the bottom is generally muddy and covered 
with marine plants. Into these muddy bottoms the mack- 
erel inserts its head and the anterior part of its body, keep- 
ing its tail elevated vertically above it. In the spring they 
come forth from their winter quarters in infinite numbers, 
and proceed southward to more genial seas to deposit their 
eggs. The mackerel dies as soon as it leaves the water, and 
then emits a phosphoric light. The fecundity of this fish is 
also great, more than half a million of eggs being deposited 
by each female. Though the mackerel is mostly used fresh, 
it is yet often pickled for winter use. 

The Salmon, by universal consent, is called the king of 
fishes. This noble fish confines himself to no narrow limits, 
but is found in every sea, the arctic as well as the equatorial ; 
in great lakes and inland seas, as the Caspian, into which it 
is believed to find its passage by a subterranean channel, 
from the Persian Gulf. It travels as far south as New Hol- 
land and the Australian seas ; but it is said never to fre- 
quent the Mediterranean. In temperate climates the sal- 
mon quit the sea early in spring, rushing into rivers freest 
from ice, or where they are borne by the highest tide, fa- 
vored by the wind, but preferring rivers and streams that are 
most shaded. They go out of the sea in numerous bands, 
formed with singular regularity, being preceded generally by 
the largest individual, which is usually a female. This leader 
is followed by others of the same sex, two and two, each 
pair having the space of from three to six feet intervening 
between them ; these are foUow^ed by the old, who are suc- 
ceeded by the young males, both preserving the same order. 

The salmon genus contains species which are intermediate 
between marine and fresh-water fishes, swimming alike in 



FISH. 161 

the sea, rivers, and lakes. Among these are the well-known 
Salmon-trout, the Trout, the Smelt, and many others. 

Besides these valuable fishes, we have in New England 
the Halibut. It is a sea-fish, and is in our markets from Feb- 
ruary to July. It is very nicely cured by Marblehead fish- 
ermen. Sea-bass and Tautog are favorites, but not always 
to be had. Shad are taken in South Carolma as early as 
January, in Virginia a month or two later, in New York 
in April, and come into the Connecticut and Merrimack 
rivers in May. The Shad is indifferent eating, unless it is 
large and fat. Sturgeon and Rock-fish are favorite dishes 
in Virginia. 

The Sturgeon is a large cartilaginous fish, related to the 
shark. There are two species of this fish, the Sturgeon and 
the Huso. The latter is much longer than the sturgeon, 
and has been known to weigh 2,800 pounds, and to be nearly 
forty feet long. The huso is found only in the Caspian and 
Black Seas, and the Don, the Volga, and other rivers that 
flow into them. It is more numerous than the sturgeon. 
The Caviar, which is so much valued by the Russians, Turks, 
and Greeks, is made from the roe of the huso, which consti- 
tutes nearly a third of the whole fish, and, as may be seen, 
indicates almost incredible fecundity. The huso fishery is 
important, also, from the isinglass that is made from the air- 
vessel of this fish. The common sturgeon furnishes the 
same article, as also do other fishes. (Kirby on Habits and 
Instincts of Animals. Quarterly Review. Tract on British 
Fisheries.) 

Cold-blooded animals are said not to suffer from dismem- 
berment like animals of a higher and warmer temperament. 
It is comfortable to know this when one reads the various re- 
ceipts for preparing fish for the table. Nevertheless Mon- 
sieur Ude's manner of destroying eels can hardly be recom- 
mended, though warmly and cleverly defended by himself. 
14* 



162 FISH. 

He says, " Take live eels, throw them into the fire, and as 
they are twisting about on all sides, lay hold of them with 
a towel in your hand, and skin them." Life ceases when 
the back part of the skull, the seat of the spinal marrow, is 
pierced. 

Though most fishes die soon after leaving the water, and 
exhibit little muscular irritability after death, yet those gen- 
era which make an approach to a ganglionic system, such as 
the carp and cod kind, generally are found to be partial ex- 
ceptions to these laws. Fishmongers have availed them- 
selves of these deviations to introduce the fashion of crimp- 
ing, or stimulating the fish into motion by transverse incis- 
ions. The vitality of the carp is very great ; they may be 
placed in nets, and kept and fed thus for a long time in a 
damp cellar, and the heart of a carp has been known to leap 
about four hours after dismemberment from the body. 

Herring are seldom cured in a private family, but persons 
living near the sea-shore may easily take the pickle left 
from their winter stock of meat, and throw the herring in 
alive. They should remain at least twenty-four hours, and 
then be packed in a close barrel or half-barrel, with a layer 
of salt at the bottom and between each successive layer of 
fish, and an occasional sprinkling of saltpetre. Be liberal 
with the salt. If they do not make brine enough, pour 
pickle over them in a few weeks after they are packed. If 
not kept covered with brine, they will become rusty. 

In cooking them, take them from the brine, and let them 
soak for an hour or two, take them from the water, scale 
them, and pull off the gills, when the entrails will follow. 
Wash them and let them dry. They will require but a few 
minutes to broil. 

The legal measure for fish is for each tierce to contain 
three hundred pounds ; each barrel, two hundred pounds ; 
each half-barrel, one hundred pounds ; each quarter-barrel, 



FISH. 163 

fifty pounds ; and each tenth or kid, twenty pounds. The 
legal measure of salt is at the rate of thirty-five pounds for 
every two hundred pounds of fish ; and it is further provided, 
that each cask shall be filled up with clear, strong pickle, 
and that the species called Magdalen Herring shall be desig- 
nated on the outside of the cask which holds the same. 
See Alewives. 

Baked Cod. 

Clean the cod nicely inside and out, flour it, and cut thin 
slices of pork, which secure to the fish at equal distances 
with silver skewers. Make a stuffing for the belly of grated 
bread, beef-suet, sweet marjoram, thyme, pepper, salt, and, if 
you have it, one anchovy. Make an anchovy-sauce for it, or 
serve with drawn butter. Mackerel may be dressed in the 
same way. 

Boiled Cod. 
Cod boiled and served with oyster-sauce is also a favorite 
dish. It should be boiled in a fish-kettle, with a strainer. 
Let the water be salted, and it should boil hard when the 
fish is put in. Let it simmer, covered, for about half an 
hour. You may crimp cod to be boiled if you please. Pour 
the oyster-sauce over the fish before it goes to the table. 

Salt Cod. 

Brush it with a brush kept for the purpose, and then put 
into water, and let it soak over night. Pour the water off, 
and put the fish into the fish-kettle, with a good deal of water. 
Let it come almost to a boil, when remove it to the corner of 
the fire, and keep it covered till you wish to serve. Put it 
upon a dish with a drainer, and serve with egg-sauce in a 
boat. 

Boiled Salmon. 

This fish may be boiled whole, or the head and shoulders 



164 FISH. 

of a large, thick salmon will make a handsome dish. Scale 
and clean the fish without cutting it open far. If it is boiled 
whole, put it into boiling water, in which has been thrown a 
handful of salt. Boiling water is thought to harden the fish. 
Put it to boil in a large fish-kettle, with a strainer. If it is 
put into cold water, it will not be done under an hour, and if 
it weigh ten pounds, an hour's gentle simmering will hardly 
be too much. Fish underdone is unwholesome, and looks 
uninviting. When done, lift the strainer, and rest it across 
the kettle, that the fish may drain. Heat the dish (which 
should have a strainer), and heat also a white napkin, and 
place it in the dish, turn the salmon on gently, without break- 
ing it, and have it sent to the table hot. Serve caper-sauce 
or anchovy-sauce in a boat. 

Salmon Cutlets. 

Cut the salmon open, remove the bone, and cut the fillets 
about three inches deep. Lay them to dry in the folds of a 
clean, coarse cloth. They may be broiled or fried. If fried, 
put a few rashers of pork in the pan, or, if expense is not to 
be considered, use sweet olive-oil. Serve hot, with pepper 
and salt sprinkled over each cutlet. 

Haddock is good, boiled or baked, but on account of its 
firmness and lightness is generally chowdered. See Chowder. 

Salmon, cod, or halibut, after being scaled and cleaned, 
may be cut into handsome pieces, and smoked over the em- 
bers of a kitchen fire, rubbing a little salt over each bit, and 
be broiled for breakfast. See Broiling. 

Tautog, or black-fish, may be baked with forcemeat stufiSng 
for the belly. Proceed as for baked cod, but baste even 
more frequently. Wine, water, and walnut or mushroom 
catchup make a good baste for the tautog. 

All small and delicate fish, like smelts, perch, trout, etc., 
should, after bein"- well dried, be washed with beaten eg^ss:. 



FISH. 165 

and dipped in grated bread-crumbs or Indian meal, and fried 
in hot lard. 

Small sturgeons are considered nicest for the table, and 
the tail-piece or the piece next the tail is to be preferred ; 
but whether baked or boiled, a rich sauce should be pre- 
pared, as the sturgeon is a dry fish. The skin should, for 
these dishes, be nicely scraped, and in sturgeon cutlets or 
titeaks, the skin should be removed. 

SHELL-FISH. 

Shell-fish cannot always be taken upon delicate stomachs, 
yet where they sit easily, and are relished, they are said to 
neutralize acidity in the stomach more readily and complete- 
ly than any other animal food. 

The order Molluscans afford a great variety of food to 
man. Here are found the common clam, mussel, cockle, peri- 
winkle, and a species of the snail genus, much relished by 
the Romans, and to this day fattened and eaten by the 
French, and by them called the Escargot ; here, too, is the 
Escallop, whose shells are often used for skimming milk ; 
and last, but not least, here is found the Oyster, which, as an 
article of food, has always been in request. 

Among the Crustaceans we have the crab, the lobster, the 
cray-fish, or thorny lobster, — much valued by the French, 
and called by them Langouste, but which is but an inferior 
kind of lobster, — prawns, shrimps, and fresh-water cray-fish. 

Here, as the most convenient place, I shall also briefly 
mention the few animals among the class of Reptiles that 
yield food to man, — the turtle, terrapin, and frog. 

Oysters. 

The oyster is found on the coasts of Europe, America, 
Asia, and Africa. They seldom leave the rocks or substances 
upon which they fasten themselves. " Like other Molluscans," 



1C6 FISH. 

says the learned Kirby, " they are hermaphrodites, and are 
stated by Poli, the great luminary of conchology, to contain 
1,200,000 eggs, so that a single oyster might give birth to 
12,000 barrels ! ! " This is the only shell-fish, as the same 
author remarks, that man has made certain pits or beds for ; 
such -beds are placed where salt water may have access to 
them at high tide. 

Oysters are considered by gourmands as a whetter to the ap- 
petite, and a few taken before dinner, with a little lemon-juice 
squeezed over each, are said to stimulate a languid appetite. 

June, July, and August are forbidden months for oysters 
and clams. Small oysters are generally considered the 
nicest-flavored. 

In cooking all shell-fish, great care is necessary, for if they 
are overdone, or smothered in foreign substances, they not only 
lose their individual piquancy, but are less easily digested. 

EscaUojped or Scalloped Oysters. 

The shell of the escallop is sometimes used for the oyster ; 
if not to be easily procured, use shallow dishes for oysters 
thus served. Wash the oysters in their liquor, remove them 
carefully one by one, strain the liquor to get rid of bits of 
shell, return the oysters to their liquor, and put them to scald 
in a stewpan. When heated, remove them, and fill your 
shells or dish with oysters, sj^rinkle them with bread-crumbs, 
a little pounded mace, clove, and slices of butter ; heat the 
liquor again, and work a small piece of butter into a little 
flour, drop it into the liquor with a dust of cayenne pepper, 
put it to the oysters, and bake them a light brown. 

Fried Oysters. 

Wash the oysters from their liquor, dry them in a cloth. 
Beat two eggs, and grate into another dish a nice loaf of 
baker's bread. Wash each oyster in the egg, and roll them 



FISH. 167 

up and down in the bread. Fry them in hot lard or clarified 
butter. When they are of a delicate brown, put them into a 
warm dish, with pieces of butter between them, and a Httle 
fresh lemon-juice. 

Roasted Oi/sfers. 
Just before they are to be served, put them unopened on a 
gridiron, which place over a moderate fire. When the shell 
Oldens, they are cooked. Be careful to keep the liquor in the 
shells. Serve on coarse trays with napkins. 

Stewed Ousters. 
Wash the oysters from their liquor ; allow the latter to set- 
tle, then strain it carefully, and add to jt some whole pepper, 
a blade or two of mace, and three cloves, and set it over a 
moderate fire in a clean block-tin sauce-pan ; mix a little 
flour into a piece of butter, stir it into the liquor, cover the 
pan, and when the liquor begins to heat, put the oysters in, 
and let them simmer very gently about five minutes. Plave 
your dish hot, and covered with slices of bread that have 
been dried, toasted, and well buttered, and pour the oysters 
over them. Only rich, juicy oysters will stew to advantage. 

Mussels, Clams, etc. 
Mussels, Clams, Escallops, etc. may be cooked in the same 
variety as the oyster, only they require more care, because 
there are coarse parts to be removed ; they must be always 
trimmed of the beard, and tough unwholesome parts. See 
Soups, Sauces, etc. 

Lobsters and Crabs. 
The best are heavy. They have when fresh an agreeable 
fresh smell ; the tail of the lobster is stiff, and when pulled 
springs back ; the claws of the crab will have the same elas- 
ticity; if stale, they will be flabby, and the eyes will look 



168 FISH. 

dead. Fish, however, is almost invariably presented in the 
United States in a fresh and wholesome state. 

The male lobster has the tail narrower, the upper fins stifFer, 
and the whole body smaller, than the hen-lobster ; its meat is 
considered the richer,* but the female is sometimes preferred 
for ornamental dishes, on account of the spawn and coral. 
They are generally bought already boiled, being thrown by 
fishermen, as soon as caught, into boiling water, and boiled 
from thirty to fifty minutes, according to their size ; boiled 
too long, they become tough ; if not long enough, the spawn 
Avill not have an agreeable color. On being taken from the 
water, they are wiped with a damp cloth rubbed over with 
butter or sweet olive-oil, which is wiped oflT afterward. 

Lohster and Crab served Cold. 
Take off the claws and crack them at the joints, lay the 
body and tail open neatly with a sharp knife, removing the 
dark vein, and what is vulgarly known as the lady, and then 
dispose the eatable portions neatly on the dish. Serve in a 
salad bowl the following sauce. Eub the hard-boiled yolks 
of three eggs and the spawn of the lobster together to a 
paste, add a salt-spoonful of salt, a little cayenne, two large 
spoonfuls of sweet olive-oil, a teaspoonful of made mustard, 
three table-spoonfuls of good cider vinegar, and a teaspoon- 
ful of anchovy-sauce. The same sauce will serve for plain 
boiled crabs. 

Grabs in the Shell. 
Take the meat from the claws and body, mince it very 
fine, and season it with salt, white pepper, and a little pounded 
mace. Have the shell nicely cleaned, and sprinkle bread- 
crumbs into it with pieces of butter, put the meat of two 
crabs into the shell, and bake in a moderate oven. 

Lobster and crab, as also shrimps and prawns, may have 



FISH. 1G9 

their meat cut into bits, or minced and stewed in white or 
brown gravy, seasoning with 'pepper and salt, and be served 
on toasted bread. 

The tail and claws are favorite parts in the lobster. 

Turtle. 

The larger part of the turtles used in the United States 
are taken off the Florida coast. The turtle should be kept 
in water till to be killed, then taken out, suspended by the 
hind fins, and the head taken off with a knife. Allow it to 
bleed several hours ; then take it doM-n, cut off the fins at the 
joint, and throw them into scalding water ; next remove the 
under shell or callipee, and put it into another vessel with 
scalding water ; remove the entrails, taking care not to break 
the gall-bag, and throw the entrails and gall away. The en- 
trails of the turtle are not now used. Remove with a knife 
the lungs, kidneys, heart, and liver, and throw them into cold 
water, the liver in a vessel by itself. Put the eggs also, if 
there be any, into a basin of cold water. 

Remove the fins and callipee from the hot water, and skin 
them first, and cut the meat of the callipee into pieces three 
or four inches square, breaking the shell, and removing the 
whole of the meat. The callipash, or meat of the upper shell, 
may be cut smaller, and the green fat into quite small square 
pieces. "Wash and wipe out the upper shell. 

Having Avashed every part of it, take the coarser pieces 
anjl the bone, and put them, with a piece of ham, a knuckle 
of veal, or eight calves' feet, into a large pot of water. Put in 
two or three onions chopped fine, a little cayenne pepper, and a 
table-spoonful of sweet marjoram and summer savory. Let 
it simmer slowly four or five hours, strain it, and have the 
pot washed and wiped out. Lay in it some of the reserved 
delicate pieces, and the liver cut up, and some of the green 
fat, some forcemeat balls, made of veal, bread-crumbs, and 
15 



170 FISH. 

the usual spices, with a little grated lemon-peel and beaten 
egg ; also the eggs of the turtle, and hard-boiled yolks of eggs. 
Let the forcemeat-balls and egg-balls be small. Pour the 
strained soup over the whole, and let it simmer slowly an 
hour. When it has thus boiled, cut up a lemon or two in 
slices, removing the seed, and put them into the pot with a 
pint of Madeira; let it simmer fifteen or twenty minutes, 
when put it into the tureen. 

While the soup is being made, let the finer pieces of the 
turtle be stewing gently in a little broth, or brown gravy, 
seasoned with salt, cayenne, and a little finely pulverized 
sweet marjoram and summer savory. Make a rich paste, and 
line the back shell with the paste, ornamenting the edge with 
the same. After the turtle has stewed gently for an hour (add- 
ing a very Uttle more broth, if it gets too dry), knead a little 
flour into a pound of butter, and stir into it, with the green 
fat, some grated lemon-peel ; let it simmer another hour, take 
it up, stir in three or four well-beaten yolks of eggs, and a 
pint of Madeira wine ; let it simmer about a quarter of an 
hour longer, then take it off, and when cool put it into the 
shell. Set the shell, propped up at the sides with bricks or 
stones, into a moderate oven, and let it bake a rich brown. 
Let it go to the table in the shell on a large dish, at the same 
time as the soup. Have lemons sliced, and pickles served in 
small pickle-dishes at the sides of the table. Li a turtle pas- 
try the meat is stewed in a similar manner, and the whole 

of the top is covered with pastiy ornamented by the pastry- 

■ 
cutter. 

Terrapin. 
These, like the lobster, are thrown alive into boiling water. 
Let them remain till the outer shell and toe-nails can be re- 
moved. Wash them in warm water, and boil them, with a 
little salt to the water, till the fleshy part of the leg is tender. 
They should be now removed to a dish, the second shell 



FLANNEL. 171 

taken off, and the sand-bag and the gall carefully removed, 
and the spongy part be also cut off. After having cut up the 
meat into small pieces, season it with salt, cayenne, and 
black pepper, and the yolk of two eggs to a terrapin, and 
knead a little flour into a piece of butter ; let them stew gen- 
tly for a few minutes, then add a gill of madeira or sherry 
for every terrapin, and a little browned flour rubbed into a 
bit of butter ; let it remain a few minutes longer in a sauce- 
pan, then put it hot into the dish over slices of dried toasted, 

bread. 

Frog. 

Grenouilles frites, or fried frogs, is a dish which is 
sometimes served in New England. The hind-quarters of 
the frog only are used ; soak them, after washing them in 
warm water, in cold vinegar, with a little salt ; let them re- 
main an hour in the salt and vinegar, then throw them in 
scalding water, remove the skin without tearing the flesh, 
wipe them dry, and fry them with parsley chopped fine, in 
clarified butter or sweet olive-oil ; when fried a delicate color, 
sprinkle a little pepper and salt over them, and garnish the 
dish with crisped parsley. Frogs are also sometimes stewed 
in the saucepan, with butter, wine, a little flour, and, just be- 
fore they are removed from the fire, the beaten yolks of two 
or three eggs, and the dish garnished with finely chopped 
crisped parsley. 

FLANNEL. This material, being of animal origin, re- 
quires, especially when worn next the skin, frequent wash- 
ings. Flannel should be thoroughly wet in cold, soft water, 
and wrunor out, and then washed in hot suds made of hard 
soap. Renew the suds so long as they look discolored. The 
last suds need not be so strong of soap as the previous ones, 
but all should be hot. "Wring flannels dry, and shake them 
well. Press them well with a warm iron, on the wrong 
side, before they are quite dry. 



172 FLOWEBS. 

FLOWERS. We have no reason to believe that either 
Greeks or Romans cuUivated flowers so far as to set apart 
ground for their ciiUivation. Modern Europe was first in- 
cited by the example of the East to this charming occupa- 
tion. Turkey, Persia, and China had long cherished flowers 
before the same taste had passed through Constantinople, 
Italy, Germany, and Holland, and from this last into Eng- 
land. Flora, as if in revenge at this tardy homage from the 
best part of the world, yielded to the humor of Puck, and 
from 1634 to 1637 set Commerce off in a mad frolic, and 
made the Dutchman pay for the music. During the space 
alluded to, a single root of a fashionable species of tulip 
would have bought a handsome farm, and have stocked it 
with cattle, grain, furniture, and provisions. 

Flowers are cultivated with an eye to effect, or to botani- 
cal arrangement ; where the last is sought, all the species 
of a genus are kept together, though colors must be con- 
fused ; where effect merely is looked for, plants whose season 
for flowermg is the same, and whose colors contrast, such as 
blue and yellow, red and green, orange and purple, are se- 
lected. Where, however, colors do not form agreeable con- 
trasts, they may be softened by the interposition of white 
flowers, or dark-colored ones that approach black. So also 
where flowers are intended for vases or pots, and whose back- 
ground is to be the blue sky, purple and blue flowers should 
be avoided, and orange and red flowers chosen. 

It is much to be wished that jardinieres (though the au- 
thor has found these in the parlors of Bangor, Me., filled 
with choicest camellias), and baskets of flowers suspended 
from ceilings and windows, would take the place of expensive 
upholstery ; even the first violets of spring, and the autumn 
leaves and the blue fringed gentian of autumn, the trophies 
of pleasant walks, placed about a room, give it a freshness 
and cheerfulness that is always felt, if not acknowledged. 



FLOWERS. 173 

The limits of this book forbid my entering far into this 
tempting field; I shall therefore offer only a few hints, as 
they occur to me. 

In watering tender plants, care should be taken to have 
the water of similar temperature as the plants to be watered, 
and to avoid throwing the water directly on the collar or 
neck of the plant. Indeed, the soil is better to be kept dry for 
an inch or two around such plants, for moisture on the collar 
frequently leads to disease in delicate plants. The collar or 
neck, called sometimes the heart of the plant, is the point of 
union for the ascending stem and branches, and the descend- 
ing roots, and any injury done to this part of the plant leads 
to disease or death. If lime-water is used to keep off insects, 
the water should merely be made a little milky in color. 

Decayed leaves, that have been swept together in the fall, 
and kept in a heap, and turned over once a month, form in 
about a year the vegetable mould, which is the best manure 
for flowering plants. 

Annuals or plants which live but one summer are, when 
hardy, sown directly into the garden-soil, pressing the 
ground with a spade or saucer, sprinkling the seed thinly, 
and covering them merely with fine earth; but the ten- 
derer kinds are frequently matured in pots, and put into 
the garden to flower, the first pot being very small, the next 
one a Httle larger ; and when the roots have stuck to the ex- 
tremities of the ball of earth contained in the second pot, 
which can be ascertained by gently coaxing it into the hand, 
it should be shifted into one a little larger, and so on till tiie 
flower-buds begin to shoot, when it may at once be placed in 
the garden, or, if kept in the house, be no more shifted. 
Fill the pots up with light, rich mould, and see that coarse 
bits of crock or similar matter form a good drainage to each 
pot. Balsams and Cock's-combs that have been brought for- 
ward in a healthy manner may be occasionally watered with 
15* 



174 FLOWERS. 

liquid manure ; but this should not be applied to tender grow- 
ing annuals. 

In transplanting, keep the ball of earth round the plant, 
and water it well for the first few days, till the ground is set. 
Perhaps no garden-flower has more increased in size and 
beauty of color, through cultivation, than the Pansy. The 
origin of most of the pansies now in cultivation is from the 
small European violet, Viola tricolor, hybridized by some 
other species. They may be grown from the seed, or by di- 
viding the root. They require in warm weather constant 
watering, but the soil where they are placed should be v/ell 
drained. Cultivators seem always to delight in bringing for- 
eign plants home, rather than in improving home productions. 
The small white violet of our woods, pretty and exquisitely 
fragrant, has never been cultivated, and in England it is said 
that our mullein-plant is a conspicuous ornament of conser- 
vatories. 

Biennials are plants that show no flower till the second 
year, and then, after ripening their seed, die. I have been 
told that annuals may sometimes be made biennial by keep- 
ing the buds back with thumb-pruning, and sowing the seed 
late. Wallflowers, Canterbury-bells, Snapdragons, Bromp- 
ton Stocks, Hollyhocks, are biennials, though, excepting the 
Brompton Stocks, these frequently last three or four years 
from the first setting out. 

Florists' flowers are such as attain great size and glowing 
colors by excessive painstaking in the culture, and they are 
expected to hybridize freely, or to vary much from seed. 
Florists have a certain coxcombry among themselves, and 
may be seen criticising and throwing away flowers for some 
alleged defects in form or color, unnoticed, because unknown, 
to vulgar eyes ; thus, if the Dahlia shows any green in the 
centre, it is worthless ; if in the Auricula or Polyanthus the 
style projects beyond the stamens, such are called pin-eyed, 



FOWLS. 175 

and are of no value. The flowers which have been most 
successfully pampered by florists are the Hyacinth, the Tulip, 
the Dahlia, the Auricula, the Polyanthus, the Carnation, the 
Pink, the Ranunculus, the Anemone, the Geraniums or Pe- 
largoniums, the Pansies, the Calceolarias, and the Chrysan- 
themums. 

We have seen that flowers lend their aid to the dyer, and 
that fomentations are often made of the flowers and leaves 
of plants. Colchicum, a bulbous-rooted plant, the flower of 
which resembles the Crocus, affords a medicine used for 
rheumatism and the gout; but as in large quantities it is 
poisonous, the extract should never be taken without medi- 
cal advice. 

For those who wish to pursue the science of Botany, the 
works of Professor Gray of Cambridge, and Professor Tor- 
rey of New York, will be of valuable assistance, while the 
amateur gardener, whose time is limited, will find present 
help in Mrs. Loudoun's " Companion to the Flower Gar- 
den," adapted by Downing to the wants of this country. 

FOWLS. The domestic fowls reared for food are com- 
monly divided into, — 

1. Gallinaceae, the Cock kind, comprehending the Common 
Cock, the Turkey, the Guinea-fowl, the Peacock, and the 
Pigeon. 

2. Palmipedes, the Web-footed kinds, comprehending the 
Duck, the Goose, and the Swan. 

The Swan and the Peacock are now only reared for their 
beauty, and not for economical purposes. 

The Domestic Cock (Phasianiis gallus) is, among the gal- 
linaceous fowls, the first in importance. The origin of this 
valuable bird is unknown, though the Jungle-fowl of India is 
supposed to be the original breed ; but it adapts itself to every 
climate except the polar. The differences in this tribe are 



176 FOAVLS. 

principally shown in their plumage : one breed has a tuft of 
feathers on the head ; the little Bantam has his legs covered 
with feathers ; the Kumplets have no tail ; the Friesland 
Hen has the feathers on her body recurved ; another breed, 
called the Silk-hens, instead of feathers, are dressed in a kind 
of silken hair. Some of these breeds are more curious than 
useful. The Friesland or Frizzled Hen, as it is commonly 
called on account of the appearance of its ruffled plumage, 
and which does not love a cold climate, and the little Ban- 
tam, feathered to the toe, are valued mostly for their beauty, 
though they are delicate eating. 

The approved varieties of fowls are numerous. The 
Dorking Fowls of England, so called from a town in Surrey, 
near which they were raised, are among the most popular. 
When of pure breed, they have five claws on each foot, are 
large in the body, their color is white, and they are generous 
layers. 

The Poland Fowls are regarded as equally valuable with 
the Dorking, but they are less inclined to set than those of any 
other breed. " Their color," says Professor Low, " is black, 
their heads flat, and surmounted with a crown of feathers." 
They are good layers. 

Among the larger breeds we find the Great Malay Fowl, 
and the Chittagong breed, which is held now to be a distinct 
breed from the Great Malay, and to possess more desirable 
points, having a more capacious body, more delicate flesh, 
and maturing earlier than the Malay variety. The Chinese 
fowls, consisting of the Cochin China breed and the Shang- 
hae fowls, have been successfully crossed with the common 
domestic breeds. 

The hatching period is twenty-one days ; during this period, 
the hen should have food and fresh water placed near her. 
She inclines to eat but little during this time, and when she 
has perfected her brood, she should be well fed on scalded 
meal, boiled rice, and similar substances. 



FOWLS. 177 

The moulting period succeeds to the labors of prolific lay- 
ing and incubation. It lasts from one to three months, during 
which time the female generally ceases to lay, or does so 
rarely, and seems languid and depressed. 

A hen is old at four years, and in her fifth year should 
make way for younger birds. A cock should never exceed 
three years ; if well fed, and of good breed, he matures at 
three months. 

To have a desirable breed of fowls, the finest-formed hen 
should be chosen (or a thoroughly matured pullet) for breed- 
ing purposes, and the cock changed yearly, so as to avoid 
what is called " in and in " breeding. If pullets are used, 
they should be well matured ; otherwise the breed will be 
gmall, tender, and consequently diificult to raise. 

Fowls, w^hen confined, should have a building placed above 
ground, that may be easily ventilated. Their floor should 
be covered with wood or coal ashes, and the interior of their 
building should be white-washed two or three times every 
year, and cleaned once a week. Avoid too much glass, 
which gives an unnatural heat, and creates distempers. 
Keep them dry, supply them with fresh water daily, and a 
variety in their food. When cooped and unable to procure 
insects, supply them with animal food, and feed them three 
times a da}'*. A little cayenne-pej^per mixed with Indian- 
meal dough may be given to them occasionally during the 
winter season. Gravel should be within their reach, and 
oyster-shells, or similar substances, pounded fine, should be 
scattered about the coop. 

In selectinjr eoro-s for hatchino;, take those of medium size, 
that you believe have been rendered productive ; the large 
egg of corresponding size at both ends, contains double yolks, 
which, instead of bringing twin chickens, produce monstrosi- 
ties. It is said that the position of the air-cell, discovered 
by holding the egg between the light of a candle and your 



178 FOWLS. 

eye, indicates the sex of the bird ; if on one side, it will be fe- 
male ; if in the exact apex, a male. 

Do not attempt to turn the eggs ; the hen can do this best 
herself. It is poor economy to place too many eggs under 
one hen, though of course a large hen can cover more than 
a smaller bird ; but the large brood often get trodden on by 
the mother, and they are less healthy and vigorous, on ac- 
count of being half starved during incubation. 

Yellow or brownish colored eggs are mostly produced by 
hens of Southern breed, and the white alabaster egg, by 
Northern breeds. There is a superstition among many farm- 
er-wives, with regard to the number of eggs for hatching ; 
they always choose an odd number, nine and thirteen being 
more desirable than eight or twelve. 

The young chickens must be kept perfectly free from cold 
or moisture, and fed for the first few days on rice boiled dry, 
or Indian meal boiled and given not too moist. Water 
should be placed in shallow plates. They should be kept 
from the damp grass. 

Boiled Fowl. 

Put it into water that the chill has been taken off from, 
after having trussed the fowl handsomely, and add to the 
water a small piece of pork, that has been previously put into 
cold water and boiled in a saucepan for half an hour ; skim 
the water, and add it to the pot with the pork. Let the fowl 
simmer, if it be large, an hour and a half. Make an egg 
sauce, which serve in a boat. 

Boiled fowls are sometimes filled, after being trussed, in 
the crop and body with oysters. In this case the oysters are 
kept in by tying twine round, and placing the fowl in a jar, 
which is put into a kettle of water, where it is boiled hard 
for an hour and a half. Make a sauce, in a saucepan, of the 
gravy which will be found in the jar, by kneading a little 



FOWLS. 179 

flour into a lump of butter, chopping a few oysters, and when 
it begins to heat, adding half a cup of cream, and the beaten 
yolk of two eggs. Stir it, and remove when it comes to a 
boil. Serve in a boat. 

Roast Fowl. 
Having dressed and trussed them, place them before a 
good fire, with a little salt put to a pan of water, or if you 
have a tin-kitchen, put the salted water directly into the 
bottom of it. Baste with this water till the fowls begin to 
brown, when baste with fresh butter. Make the gi'avy by 
boiling the necks, gizzards, hearts, and liver; remove the 
first, and chop the giblets fine ; thicken with browned flour, 
rubbed into a piece of butter. Serve in a boat. 

The Turkey (^Meleagris gallo-pavo) was found in America 
by the Spaniards. In his wild state this bird is black in 
plumage, variegated with bronze and glossy green, and the 
extremities of his quills are tipped with white. 

While young they are exceedingly tender, and if not 
properly cared for die off rapidly. The turkey-hen lays from 
twelve to twenty eggs ; she seeks out-of-the-way places to lay, 
and must be watched, her egg removed daily, and a porcelain 
one substituted. 

When the turkey-hen desires to set, she must be cooped 
if she evinces restlessness, and her eggs be placed under her. 
The turkey sets on her eggs thirty days. When the young 
are pipped or born, they must never be handled, but be kept 
dry and warm, and be fed on bread-crumbs soaked in milk, 
or scalded meal, and boiled rice. Separate the hen from 
her young, otherwise she will devour their food. The 
turkey is a close setter, and should be supplied with fresh 
food and water ; but after her young are hatched, she is apt 
to take them to great distances, without measuring their 
ability to keep pace with herself; for this reason, it is better 



180 FOWLS. 

to keep the mother cooped till her little ones have estab- 
lished their streiiGfth. The common hen often has the eo^srs 
of the turkey and duck given her to bring out. Turkeys 
roost very high, and require large perches for their talons to 
grasp. If cooped, their house should be well ventilated. 
The practice of cramming turkeys is mostly gone by ; they 
fatten readily when cooped, and fed frequently on fresh food. 
They like meal made into a thick j)aste, corn, boiled potatoes 
mixed with meal, buckwheat, boiled beans, rice, and milk 
curd ; also wheat and barley. Fifteen pounds is a good 
weight for a turkey, but they are sometimes, by high feeding, 
brought to twenty and thirty pounds. 

Boiled Turkey. 
Put the turkey into a kettle of water, from which the chill 
has been taken. Cover it close, and put it over the fire ; 
when the scum begins to rise, skim it. Simmer slowly for 
half an hour, then take it off, and keep it covered close in 
the hot water ; if of middling size, the confined steam will 
cook it enough in half an hour, and keep the skin whole, ten- 
der, and white. Put it over the fire again, just before it is 
to be sent to the table. Serve with oyster-sauce in a boat. 
You may, if you choose, stuff the craw, after trussing it, with 
bread-crumbs, chopped oyster, a little mace and salt moist- 
ened with egg, serving up the turkey, and proceeding pre- 
cisely as above directed. 

Roast Turkey. 
Roast turkeys as you do fowls ; but a forcemeat stuffing is 
always made for the craw, and previous to trussing, the 
breast-bone is broken, and the sinews drawn from the legs. 

The Pintado or Guinea-fowl {Numida meleagris) is, as its 
name indicates, a native of Africa. It is reared in Virginia, 
where its strange cry is thought to keep off birds of prey. 



FOWLS. 181 

It is shy, and loves to wander in the woods. It lays a 
brown-shelled egg, smaller, but richer, than the egg of the 
common hen. She endeavors to secrete her eggs till she 
hatches her brood. Her eggs are sometimes given to the 
common hen to hatch. Her little ones are tender, and there- 
fore early spring is not so favorable for rearing them as a 
more advanced period in the season. Twenty-eight days is 
the period of incubation with the Guinea-hen, but it is better 
to have the eggs hatched by the common gallinaceous fowl, 
as the male of the Guinea-hen, like the pheasant, has a pro- 
pensity to destroy the eggs of the female. 

The flesh of this fowl is delicate, if taken before it is tough 
and old ; then it is not desirable, even for the pot. It is 
roasted like the common fowl. 

The Common Pigeon (^Columha livia), on account of its 
gentleness and trustfulness, is a great favorite ; but, says Pro- 
fessor Low, "nothing beyond the gratification of luxury can be 
derived from the cultivation of the domestic pigeon for food. 
In vain has it been asserted, that pigeons do not feed upon 
green corn, cannot dig into the earth with their bills, do little 
harm to the cultivated crops, and consume only the seeds of 
injurious plants. The experience of farmers shows that the 
damage done by these creatures to our various crops of 
wheat, pease, and beans is very great ; and certainly the 
waste is in no degree compensated for by the quantity which 
the animals afford of human food." 

Wild pigeons, however, form indifferent food when com- 
pared with the flesh of the well-fed domestic pigeon. 

The common pigeon domesticated, begins generally to 
breed at nine months, pairing and breeding monthly, the fe- 
male laying two eggs, which ordinarily are male and female. 
One pair generally affords the breeder nine pairs annually, 
for four years. Their coops should be airy, and kept with 
great neatness. There are various breeds of pigeons, which 
16 



182 FOWLS. 

are valuable to the bird-fancier, as flowers are to florists, for 
certain monstrosities and deviations from the usual laws of 
nature. Thus the English Pouter, that swells his crop to a 
fearful distention, and the Fantail, that makes his tail-feathers 
adorn his head like a halo, is of exceeding value to the fan- 
cier of birds. 

Domestic pigeons are nice broiled, roasted, or even boiled 
plain and served with butter-sauce in a boat, but wild pig- 
eons are only eatable, potted or braised. Young squabs of 
the tame pigeon, when drawn, and the craw extracted, and 
washed through several waters, may be cut open in the 
back, skewered and broiled quickly, and sent to the table 
with a little pepper and a bit of butter put to each squab. 
See Game. 

Among the web-footed domestic fowls, the Duck holds a 
conspicuous place. The Wild Duck or Mallard {Anas hos- 
chas) is the original of our common duck ; in its wild state it 
pairs, in its domesticated condition becomes polygamous, but 
retains some of its shyness, for the female lays away from the 
house, and secretes her eggs. While hatching, she should 
not be disturbed ; but when her young are out, and she will 
no longer be induced to keep them in the nest, she must be 
watched, and not allowed to keep her little brood out long, as 
the heat and the night dews cannot be endured by them with 
impunity. The duck brings out her young in a month, when 
she should be well fed, and have a flat dish given her with 
water for her little ones, renewing the water frequently, and 
giving the ducklings meal paste, or boiled rice. If the eggs 
of the duck are given to the common fowl, the brood of 
ducklings must be looked to, for, disregarding the call of the 
hen, they will otherwise remain too long in the water, get 
chilled through, and die. As ducks are gross feeders, eating 
animal and vegetable substances of all kinds, before being 
killed for the table their food should for some weeks be 
selected for them. 



FOWLS. 183 

The Muscovy Duck or Musk Duck (Anas moschatd) is a 
native of South America. He is larger than the common 
duck, a huge feeder, and cannibaHsh in his habits, the au- 
thor having seen the Musk Drake swallow small chicks. 
This duck is very prolific, and fattens readily, but the flesh 
is not superior to the common well-fed duck. It is a hand- 
some bird and a valuable variety. Ducks are favored by 
gardeners, as they eat caterpillars and insects, and do no 
harm to vegetables that have got fairly started. Celery and 
parsley is sometimes sown round the ponds of ducks. Wild 
celery is said to give the exquisite flavor to the wild Canvas- 
back Duck. 

Duck Roasted. 

The ducks being picked, drawn, and singed, stuff the body 
with potatoes boiled and mashed smoothly ; moisten with 
cream, and season with pepper, a little onion chopped very 
fine, and salt ; put them down to a good fire, with water in 
the pan of the roaster season the water with a little salt, 
and baste them with this liquid ; if fat, they will require no 
butter. Make the gravy with the chopped giblets that have 
been boiled tender, the water from the pan seasoned with two 
table-spoonfuls of mushroom catchup, and thickened with a 
little browned flour. Serve hot. Have lemons in side-dishes, 
cut in two. Half an hour before a good fire will cook ducks. 

The Domestic Goose is the Wild Goose {Anas anser) do- 
mesticated. In marshy districts it is reared without trouble. 
The female sits on her nest when hatching from twenty- 
seven to thirty days, covering eleven, and sometimes fifteen 
eggs. Kept with ordinary care, regularly but not grossly 
fed, the female lays a hundred eggs annually. The careful 
hen sometimes has the eggs of the goose, as well as duck's 
and turkey's egg5, given to her to hatch, though she cannot 
cover more than six ; but as the goose is valuable, and her 



184 FOWLS. 

eggs but little used in the kitchen, the assistance of the hen 
is often desirable, especially as the goose generally inclines 
to hatch but once a year. Besides grasses and herbs, geese 
like corn, and indeed most farinaceous substances and edible 
roots, such as turnips, potatoes, carrots, and the refuse of the 
garden, such as cabbage-leaves, lettuce, and similar food. 

Goslings are tender for the first few weeks, and should be 
fed, for some days after they are hatched, on meal paste, or 
boiled rice, or bread soaked in milk, if convenient, if not, in 
water, and kept cooped ; and when they begin to go out, it 
should not be till the dew is off the ground, and they should 
be driven gently home before the sun is down. 

The cruel practice of plucking feathers from the goose 
while the bird is alive, used to be indulged in as often as five 
times a year, but is now discontinued. 

One gander is generally allowed to five geese. When 
confined, they should have roomy coops or cribs ; space 
enough to flap their wings and to get out of the noonday 
sun ; they should have their floor fresh littered with clean 
straw, be fed frequently, and have a trough of well-supplied 
pure water. 

A green goose is a goose four or six weeks old. It makes 
a very nice dish. 

Roast Goose. 

If old it should be kept a few days, and parboiled before 
roasting ; but otherwise, by no means, as it dries the flesh. 
When drawn, singed, and dried with a cloth, after thorough 
washing, make a stuffing for the body thus : Take four or five 
onions, and the liver that has been parboiled in the saucepan, 
mince them in the chopping tray, add to them an equal quan- 
tity of mashed potatoes, a bit of butter, and two beaten eggs ; 
season with salt, pepper, and pulverized sage. If the gravy 
is made of the water in the pan and the drippings of the 



FRITTERS AND PANCAKES. 185 

bird, skim it carefully before thickening with browned flour. 
Many prefer a gravy made of hot claret wine, poured upon 
the goose by the carver. The stuffings for geese are various ; 
the French use boiled rice, and chestnuts, with the liver, 
sometimes frying them in sweet lard before stuffing the 
goose with them. 

Green geese are roasted in the same way, only less highly 
seasoned with onion, sage, and pepper, and bread-crumbs are 
substituted instead of potatoes for the stuffing. Serve apple- 
sauce or gooseberry-sauce with 'goose. An hour and a half 
before a good fire should be given to a large goose, but a 
green goose is generally cooked in an hour. 

FRITTERS AND PANCAKES. In preparing these 
articles, which may be varied to an almost endless extent, 
you should make your frying-pan hot, then rub it with a but- 
tered cloth, or put a little beef-dripping in the pan, and wipe 
it out ; then put in your piece of butter^ lard, or clarified beef- 
fat, and when it froths, have ready your ladle of batter, toss 
the pan round, and run a knife round the edges of the cake, 
turning it when it is a light brown. As the fat boils away, 
take the pan off, wipe it out, and proceed as at first. Re- 
move fritters from the frying-pan with a perforated skimmer, 
and drain them well. 

Oyster Fritters. 

Take a pint of rich milk, stir into it alternately an ounce 
of melted butter, and six well-beaten eggs, and flour enough 
to make a thick batter. "Wash the oysters from their liquor, 
and dry them on a cloth ; to each ladleful of batter, put an 
oyster, and fry them quickly a rich brown color. 

Salsify and Corn Fritters. 
The flavor of oyster is thought to be found in salsify, and 
in green corn grated from the cob. Prepare salsify fritters 
16* 



186 FRYING. 

by cutting the roots in thin pieces and boiling them in milk 
and water ; when soft, mash them smoothly, removing stringy 
bits ; stir the salsify into a batter made vdth a pint of milk, 
two eggs, and flour enough to make it stiff. Fry them in fat 
of salt-pork, or in butter. Where corn is used, it should be 
young and tender. 

Victoria Fritters. 
Take a loaf of baker's bread, slice it into pieces an inch 
thick, cut each slice in the centre, trimming off the crust, and 
place the bread on a flat dish. Take a quart of rich milk, 
a salt-spoonful of salt, eight beaten eggs, stir the whole to- 
gether, strain it, and pour it over the bread several hours 
before dinner, that the bread may be equally moistened. 
Fry in hot butter a delicate brown, and eat with a sweet 
wine-sauce. 

Pancakes. 
These may be made of rice-flour, boiled in milk till it is 
thick. To three ounces of rice-flour, put a quart of rich 
milk, and when cool, stir in four beaten eggs, and sifted flour 
enough to make the batter a little stiff. Drain them as you 
fry them, and sift sugar over each cake. Send them to the 
table hot. 

Indian meal boiled as above directed, and, when cold, 
mixed in the following proportions, to a quart of the sifted 
meal, five beaten eggs, a table-spoonful of melted butter, and 
sifted flour enough to make a thick batter, may be fried 
either as fritters or pancakes. Boiled rice, or fine -hominy 
that has been left from dinner, mixed with flour, milk, eggs, 
and a little salt, makes good breakfast fritters. 

FRYING. Whatever fat is used for frying should be 
sweet, the frying-pan should be a little thick at the bottom, 



FUEL. 187 

the fire not too fierce, free from smoke, and capable of keep- 
ing up a sustained heat. Always have the pan gradually 
heated with a little fat, and wiped out before the fat for fry- 
mg is added ; ascertain the heat of the fat by dipping the tip 
of a fish-tail in, or by throAving in a bit of bread ; if they 
quickly crisp, the fat is ready. Fat that has been used for 
meat may, if strained from the sediment, be used again for 
fish. Wire-framed baskets that fit the frying-pan, rising 
about half an inch from it, are now much used for frying. 
Sweet olive-oil, butter, lard, top-fat (the skimming of pots in 
which meat has been boiled), and drippings of roast meat, 
may all, with proper attention to sweetness and their free- 
dom from foreign substances, be used for frying. Butter is 
improved by clarifying, as then the watery and milky prop- 
erties which cause it to scorch and burn are removed. But- 
ter is desirable for sweet things, such as fritters, though sweet 
lard, or good-olive oil, if it can be afforded, is nearly as good ; 
the kidney-fat of beef, cut into pieces, melted, and strained, 
should be saved for frying. Olive-oil can only be used once, 
and is therefore every way expensive. It is best to have 
the pan filled to three or four inches deep with fat ; then the 
materials fry all over quickly ; whereas if only a little is put 
in, it is more apt to scorch, and the substances cooking ab- 
sorb too much of the fat. What fat is not used should be 
strained while hot into an earthen jar, and covered closely 
from the air and dust as soon as it cools. Never put any- 
thing into the frying-pan till the fat is hot enough to cook it 
all over briskly. 

FUEL. Fuel is chiefly valuable according to its weight, 
its power of burning without leaving much incombustible 
matter, and its freedom from watery fluid. Green wood and 
wet coal should never be burned on the principle of econo- 
my ; such materials absorb the heat to convert their moisture 
into steam. 



188 FURS. 

The Lehigh and all anthracite coals, being destitute of 
the volatile matter contained in bituminous coals, are more 
difficult to ignite than these ; therefore to bring them to the 
high temperature necessary for combustion requires the aid 
of the lighter woods and charcoal. Housekeepers who use 
furnaces to warm their houses require from seventy to nine- 
ty bushels of charcoal, the quantity varying with the size of 
the house to be warmed. 

Charcoal, made newly from the heavier kinds of wood, as 
oak and walnut, is a powerful, and, for many culinary pro- 
cesses, an economical sort of fuel. 

Wood dried under cover is more free from decomposition 
than that dried in the open air. 

Hickory or walnut is the best of our native trees for fuel, 
and commands, consequently, the highest price ; beech, ma- 
ple, yellow birch, all the species of oak, and locust, form good 
fuels. Chestnut is unsafe as a fuel, on account of its snap- 
ping, and throwing its coals to the extremity of a room. 
White ash, though capable of burning well, is used principally 
for the arts, for oars, carriages, the handles of instruments, 
&c. Black birch is also a compact wood, but valuable prin- 
cipally for furniture, for screws, and implements requiring 
strength. 

FURS. These articles, like the precious jewels, vary in 
value as regulated by fashion. Ermine and sable, and the 
court fur minever, which is said to be more becoming than 
ermine, have, however, long held the ascendency. The va- 
rieties of sable are Russian, Hudson's Bay, and Canadian ; 
ermine and minever are Russian furs ; the curling chinchil- 
la, used mostly for children and misses, is from Peru. Stone- 
martin, whose varying brown constantly discloses, in the ac- 
cess of every breeze, the downy white of its under surface, 
the mink, a sort of plebeian sable, the silver-gray fox of 



GAME. 189 

Oregon, and the blue fox, are all American furs, as are also 
tlic several si:>ecies of lynx, the durable yellow and black fitz 
and the gray-squirrel furs. 

In putting away furs, they should be well shaken, and put 
into a close box, either with leaf-tobacco, crude camphor, 
black pepper, or cayenne, and sewed up in Russian sheeting, 
or the cover pasted on v,^ith flour-paste (taking coarse paper), 
and the box be put into a clean, cool, dark closet. 

GAME. Good wild game finds ready sale in the mar- 
kets of the United States, and the large cities are plentifully 
supplied by the contributions of the West, the Canadas, and 
Europe. 

Venison ranks among choice game where salmon does 
with the fish tribe. The haunch and the saddle of venison 
are roasted, while the shoulder and breast pieces are stewed, 
or used for pies. In roasting, the hard skin should be re- 
moved; then rub the piece all over with a little table-salt, 
butter thick sheets of coarse white paper, and cover. It re- 
quires constant attention, as it should be turned and basted 
frequently. When nearly cooked, take off the paper, and 
baste with claret wine, butter, and a sprinkling of flour. 

Venison eaten with blazers should be underdone ; a haunch 
of medium size is cooked in one hour and a half, but for hot 
plates should be cooked from two to three hours. Currant- 
jelly is an indispensable accompaniment of venison, and is 
often used instead of wine for the gravy. Venison eats best 
when it is freshly killed ; when it is old, it is hard, black-look- 
ing, with the rich juices gone out of it. 

Venison steak should be seasoned with pepper and salt, 
dipped in butter or olive-oil, and rubbed into bread-crumbs, 
and cooked quickly on a heated gridiron that has been rubbed 
with beef-suet. If the venison is not fat, make a gravy of 
wine, flour, and butter, or of currant-wine. Serve hot. 



190 GAME. 

The Hare of America is common in many parts of the 
Union ; in summer its fur is brown and ash-colored, in winter 
it is white, and much longer than in summer. It breeds sev- 
eral times during the year, and in the Southern States during 
the winter months, and has sometimes a litter of six. It is 
not so highly esteemed here as in the old country. It is 
taken in tlie same manner as the gray rabbit, by springes, 
traps, nets, and also by the gun. If hares and rabbits are 
young, the ears are easily slit, and the jaw-bone easily 
broken. Excepting when used for soup, hares and rabbits 
are not opened, weather allowing, for several days. After 
hanging for some days, it is paunched and skinned, the heart 
and liver removed and scalded. They should be well bled 
and washed through several waters, trussed, and if young 
they may be roasted, but not without a rich stuffing, made 
of grated bread-crumbs, beef-suet, a small chopped onion, the 
liver, if perfectly good, a little grated lemon-peel, the whole 
moistened with egg and a table-spoonful of claret. Put this 
stuffing into the belly, and sew it up. Baste with butter. 
Make the gravy with the drippings of the pan, cream, and 
the yolk of a beaten egg, and a very little flour. An hour 
and a half or two hours will roast a hare or rabbit, which 
should be cooked gradually. When old they are braised or 
stewed slowly with herbs, wine, water, chopped onion, thick- 
ened with butter and flour. 

Woodcock is the favorite bird of gourmands, if one judges 
by their market value, as they frequently bring one dollar 
per brace. They are to be had from the 1st of July to the 
1st of December. The practice of not drawing these birds 
is more honored in the breach than the observance. 

Partridges and Pheasants are marketable from September 
to the 5th of January, when their after sale is illegal, on ac- 
count of the food of these birds consisting, while the snow is 
on the ground, of wild laurel-berries, which renders their 
flesh poisonous. 



GAME. 191 

Quails are plenty in the fall and winter months, when they 
are tracked on the snow. They abound in the Western 
States ; they are sold by the dozen, generally bringing one 
dollar per dozen. 

Grouse and Prairie-Hens are trapped at the West in great 
numbers during the winter, and in the New York market 
are to be had at one dollar, and frequently fifty cents, per pair. 
Plover and Snipe. This tribe, containing six or eight 
varieties, is sold by the dozen. In Europe plovers' eggs are 
served in the nest of the bird ; the fine blue speckled eggs are 
cooked, and left again in the nest, which is sent to the table 
precisely as the winged architect constructed it, a pictur- 
esque ornament. It is not an edible nest, like the nests of the 
Java Swallow, called Salangane, and by some naturalists the 
Esculent Swallow, though the nest, which is thought to be 
made of the spawn of fish, is only eaten ; the viscous sub- 
stance is collected by this swallow from the rocks, or gathered 
from the surface of the sea. The gelatinous matter of these 
nests, somewhat resembling isinglass, is by the Chinese dis- 
solved in chicken or mutton-broth, and travellers, among 
others our distinguished countryman. Bayard Taylor, have 
acknowledged their title to rank as a delicacy. 

The Virginia Rail, who builds her nest of sedgy materials 
near the sea-shore, or in quagmires, when used for the table, 
should, like most aquatic birds, have a sliced carrot or onion 
introduced after the bird is drawn, to remove a strong taste 
induced by the diet and situation of such birds. 

The Cedar or Carolina Pice-bird, sold by the dozen, makes 
a very delicious pie. 

The Wild Pigeon requires to be braised, or stewed slowly 
with savory adjuncts ; thus potted, it is very nice ; but it 
never affords such a variety of dishes as the tame pigeon, the 
young or squabs of the last being delicious, either broiled or 
served in a pie. 



192 GAME. 

Grouse are generally trussed with the head under the wing ; 
when roasted, they must be generously basted, and not over- 
done. Toasted bread buttered is laid in the dripping-pan, 
upon which they may be served with plain butter-sauce. 
Koasted rare, that is, before a quick fire in twenty minutes, a 
wine sauce is often made for them. 

Partridges and Pheasants require constant basting when 
roasted, and should have a gravy, and may be, if liked, served 
on rich buttered toast. 

Woodcocks, Quails, Snipes, or Plovers may be roasted, and 
served on toast, with gravy made of the drippings, a piece of 
floured butter, and equal proportions of wine and currant 
jelly boiled together, and sent to the table hot in a boat. 
These small birds may be stuffed with mashed boiled chest- 
nuts, laid in a deep dish with slices of ham tied over them, 
and bak«d in a Dutch oven. Remove the ham Avhen they 
are sent to the table. 

Game that is to be kept some days should not be washed, 
as the wetting facilitates decomposition. 

Wild Ducks. — Canvas-back ducks of the Susquehannah 
and Potomac Rivers are fat in the latter part of November, 
and all through December, and are in the market till late in 
the spring. They feed on wild celery. They bring one, 
three, and five dollars per brace. Red-head ducks, of similar 
habits to the canvas-back, are nearly as nice eating. 

There is a great variety of sea ducks and of river ducks. 
Brant is considered the nicest for eating, of the salt-water 
ducks. In May they are fattest, and the choice duck of the 
season ; they may be had in the New York market, in the 
spring and fall, from Long Island, and are sometimes intro- 
duced in the winter from the South. It is of a delicate 
build, and not able to stand the rigors of a Northern 
climate. 

The Mallard frequents lakes and rivers. The Widgeon, 



GAME. 193 

the Black Duck, and the Broad-bill frequent rivers and the 
sea-shore, in the latitude of the Middle States, and are in 
the markets of the Atlantic cities from fall till late in sprino-. 

The Virginia Gray Duck, which is largely exported from 
that State, is a choice duck for the table. They are sold 
sometimes for fifty cents per pair. 

The Blue and Green Tail Duck has also a high reputation. 

Canvas-back ducks are trussed, wiped out with a clean 
cloth, but not washed, roasted rare for about twenty minutes 
or half an hour before a good fire. Currant-jelly should al- 
Vays be on the table to mix with the gravy of such as fancy 
it, and heaters provided for each plate. 

Where sea-ducks are tough and fishy, they must be stuffed 
in the body with sliced carrot, and parboiled for twenty min- 
utes, then relieved of the carrot and roasted, basting with 
fresh butter, and serving with celery, wine, or hot currant- 
jelly sauce. Wild ducks may be nicely trussed, and laid in 
a pan with butter and a small onion in the body of each, 
laying pieces of butter in the pan, with a bunch of celery or 
sweet herbs, a little pepper, and salt. Let them stew slowly, 
covering the pan ; when done, strain the liquor found in the 
pan, and pour it hot over the ducks. Garnish with sliced 
lemon. 

Ducks before going to the pot or spit should be wiped 
dry, and the river ducks should be rubbed on the inside with 
pepper and salt, excepting the canvas-back, which should be 
left to its generous juices as far as possible. 

Wild geese are cooked rare, like ducks, and to the made 
gravy is added a glass of port or claret, and a little finely 
chopped onion. Where the wild duck or goose is rank and 
oily, the dripping-pan should be skimmed, and the seasoning 
to the gravies should be more pungent; a little cayenne, 
onion, and made mustard may be used in exceeding nice 
quantities with advantage. 

17 



194 GOOSEBERRIES. 

Wild turkey may be stuffed with oysters, and served with 
oyster-sauce, or if the turkey be fat and rich, the made gravy 
of the pan may be seasoned with mushroom catchup ; or better 
yet, the small button mushrooms, stewed in butter, cream, 
and seasoned with a little salt and pepper, may be poured 
hot over the turkey, the made gravy being served in a boat. 
If the turkey be tough, it should be boiled half an hour in 
water seasoned with salt, and a bunch of celery or sweet 
herbs, and be well basted in roasting. 

Since steam plays with such vivacity between the old 
and new country, we exchange with our cousins of England 
the exquisite Canvas-back, and take their Pheasants and 
Scotch Grouse. 

GOOSEBERRIES. The native varieties are little cul- 
tivated ; our garden sorts are from the North of England. 
Gooseberry plants are raised from cuttings. The strongest 
and healthiest shoots of the current year are selected, (cutting 
off the buds that would go under the ground,) and put about 
six inches under the surface of a rich, deep soil ; the earth 
should be pressed closely round thfe slips, and when they 
have rooted, in about a year's time, they should be trans- 
planted into a rich soil. Cuttings may be set out early in 
spring or fall. 

Gooseberry plants require to be well manured every year, 
digging in a heavy top-dressing on bearing plants ; they also 
require close pruning. Lime, sulphur, wood-ashes, mixed 
into the top soil, are good to operate against mildew, to which 
disease these plants (especially inferior sorts) are liable ; a cool 
situation, such as an open border, is also advisable for them, 
for the same purpose. Should the soil be dry, it must be 
mulched or covered under the surface with straw and litter. 

If you would train as trees, no suckers must be allowed to 
grow. Many cultivators prefer the gooseberry and currant 



GRAFTING. 195 

to grow as bushes. Prune when the plant is out of bearing 
in spring or fall, cutting the tops ; and when in bearing, some 
of the fruit may be removed if very heavy, and some vigor- 
ous shoots thumb-pruned to perfect the remaining fruit. 

Cuttings may be struck every season. The best garden 
varieties will only pay for the care and expense of annual 
cultivation. There are almost endless varieties of the red, 
yellow, green, and white gooseberries. The following sorts 
are taken from Downing's Fruit and Fruit Trees, as styled 
by him : — . 

Selections of sorts for a very small garden. Red : Red 
Warrington, Keen's Seedling, Crown Bob. Yellow : Early 
Sulphur, Yellow Ball. White: Woodward's Whitesmith, 
Early White, Taylor's Bright Venus, White Honey. Green : 
Pitmaston Green Gage, Green Walnut, Parkinson's Laurel. 

Gooseberry Sauce. 

Take fruit just ripe, pick off the tops and stems, and 
weigh an equal quantity of sugar to the fruit, dividing the 
sugar into two equal portions. Make a sirup of one portion, 
and put the gooseberries into it, over the fire ; let them re- 
main till they are transparent, then remove them, and make 
a sirup of the reserved sugar, adding to it the sirup of the 
gooseberries, gently dipping it off; let it boil till thick and 
rich, and then pour it over the fruit. The fruit, by this pro- 
cess, will be less tough, and keep its flavor better than if 
cooked longer. 

GRAFTING. {Bohemian method.) It is well known 
that desirable sorts of fruit and their varieties are not easily 
raised by seeds or cuttings, and that various modes of graft- 
ing (the French practise over fifty modes) have always been 
practised by gardeners for the purpose of continuing and im- 
proving choice varieties. The following method, accepted 



196 GRAPES. 

by French gardeners, has lately appeared : — Take a healthy 
slip from an apple-tree, or the tree you wish to increase, and 
insert it into a potato and plant it, leaving about two inches 
of the slip visible. The slip is said to take root, and grow 
vigorously into a fruit-bearing tree. 

The season for grafting trees is in the spring, when the 
sap is in motion ; the cherry and plum are first ready for the 
process, the pear and apple being some weeks later. A mild, 
showery atmosphere facilitates all the processes of grafting. 

GRAPES. Passing by foreign grapes, as too wide a sub- 
ject for my limits, I shall confine myself to a few remarks 
upon our native grape, which is found growing wild in most 
of the States. The varieties of native grapes best known 
are the Isabella and the Catawba ; both of these are hardy, 
and grow rapidly in a bright, sunny, open exposure, though 
they ripen with difficulty in Maine, New Hampshire, and 
^Vermont. The Isabella, being two or three weeks earlier 
than the Catawba, is the variety chosen usually for garden 
culture in the Eastern States. 

The Catawba, a native of Virginia, found in the region of 
the river whose name it bears, is cultivated extensively at 
the West, for wines ; it is not so sweet as the Isabella, but 
has a more racy, vinous flavor. The Isabella is a native of 
South Carolina. 

The garden culture of native grapes and their numerous 
varieties is found by most persons so exceedingly easy, that 
it is wonderful that every home whose premises command a 
sunny, open exposure, does not keep a vine. 

Mr. Downing recommends, when the upright mode or 
the spur mode of training is pursued, that the first sea- 
son's growth of a newly planted vine be cut back to two buds 
the ensuing fall or spring. " These two buds," he remarks, 
" are allowed to form two upright shoots the next summer, 



GRAPES. 197 

which, at the end of the season, are brought clown to a hori- 
zontal position, and fastened each way to the lower horizon- 
tal rails of the trellis, being shortened at the distance of three 
or four feet from the root, — or as far each side as the plant 
is wished to extend. The next season, upright shoots are 
allowed to grow one foot apart, and these, as soon as they 
reach the top of the trellis, are also stopped. The next year, 
the trellis being filled with the vines, a set of lateral shoots 
will be produced from the upright leaders, with from one to 
three bunches upon each, which will be the first crop. The 
vine is now perfect, and, in the spur mode of pruning, it is 
only necessary at the close of "every season, that is, at the 
autumnal or winter pruning, to cut back these lateral shoots 
or fruit spurs to within an inch of the upright shoot from 
which they spring, and a new lateral producing fruit w^ill an- 
nually supply its place, to be again cut out at the winter 
pruning." If vines are not kept back by pruning, they soon 
exhaust their vigor in the first few years. Old vines, whose 
fruit has diminished in size and flavor, may be cut down to 
the lower shoots of the trellis. The authority just quoted 
has remarked, that his experience was that six or eight feet 
was the distance at wdiicli to plant the native grapes. " As- 
suming," he says, " the trellis to be eight feet high, then each 
vine wall extend either way three or four feet, covering a 
space eight feet square. In this form, the roots and branches 
extending but a short distance, they may be kept in high 
vigor, and a state of constant productiveness, for a great 
length of time." 

Prune grapes a month before vegetation commences, or m 
mild latitudes prune the vines in November. 

The native grapes, though growing in most soils, do best 

in soils which are rather strong and rich. The ground round 

the growing plants should be kept free from weeds and 

stirred lightly on the top, and deeper out of the reach of the 

17* 



198 HOGS. 

roots. The usual fertilizers are good for the grape, if not 
applied till fermeutation has taken place. Vegetable mould, 
ashes, and bone manure are all excellent. 

The grape-vine is easily propagated by layers (bending 
branches of the previous or current year's growth down at 
any time before midsummer, and covering with earth), or by 
cuttings, which the annual trimmings abundantly afford. 

Grapes may be kept many months by being packed in 
substances that have been dried by heat, and kept in a cool, 
dry room. Mr. Cole says, in his Fruit Book, he has pre- 
served grapes in excellent condition for several months, " by 
laying them into small bask'ets on paper, four to eight quarts 
in each, covering them with paper, cotton, or a cloth, and 
hanging them up in a well-aired, dry room." 

HAMS. Those which are bought generally require to 
be soaked twelve hours, changing the water frequently, and 
to be thoroughly scraped and cleaned before going to the pot. 
Cover the ham with water, and give a quarter of an hour's 
boiling to each pound ; then take it out of the pot, skin it, 
sift grated bread over it, and put it into the oven, and let it 
bake another quarter of an hour to each pound. Gourmands 
boil their hams in hock. See Bacon 

HOGS. These animals have been of immense assistance 
to the settlers of our Western country. 

The hog is not a native of America, but was introduced 
here by the Spaniards. 

The common hog adapts himself to all climates, and almost 
all food. These dispositions and habits, together with his 
fecundity, and the readiness with which his flesh receives 
salt, makes him alike valuable to the daily laborer and the 
wholesale dealer. 

In a state of nature, the wild hog {^Sus aper) feeds on 



HOGS. 199 

plants and roots, seeks moist and shady retreats, and pierces 
the earth with his snout for food, which his acute smell in- 
dicates to him. 

Like other domesticated animals, the hog has been sub- 
jected to careful training, to improve his valuable properties. 
We have introduced into this country quite extensively the 
Berkshire hog, which is an improved English breed, very 
superior for pork and bacon. This hog is of the ancient stock 
of England, crossed with the blood of the Eastern hog, and 
principally by the varieties styled Chinese hogs, which have 
been largely imported into the old country. This Chinese 
mixture, while it diminished the size of tlie old English 
stock, improved the properties of form, and the disposition to 
fatten. 

The desirable features in the hog's form, indicative of a 
tendency to secrete fat, are similar to those of other live 
stock ; a broad and deep chest, ribs rounded or arched, neck 
short, head and limbs small, soft bristles, skin _soft and elastic. 
(Low's Practical Agriculture.) 

The female goes with her young one hundred and twelve 
days. 

Hogs love moist and succulent food ; clover and other 
green food, the refuse of the garden, and the gleanings of 
the table, may be given to them, though for final fattening 
they require farinaceous, or other nourishing food. Sour 
fruit should not be offered to them, unless mixed with sac- 
charine substances. They should be fed three times a day, 
have clean troughs and clean beds, and it is of great advan- 
tage to animals of single stomachs, like the hog, to have their 
food boiled or steamed, especially when they have not access 
to forests for exercise. Coarse meal, or bran steamed or 
boiled, is good food for the hog ; pease and beans partially 
cooked can be given occasionally. 

Virginia bacon is thought to owe its sweetness and flavor 



200 HEDGES. 

to the privilege the hogs enjoy in that State, of running in 
the woods in the autumn, and gathering acorns and green 
food. 

When intended for pork, pigs are at the best age at six 
or eight months ; but for bacon they must be brought to a full 
size, which can only be done in ten or twelve months. For 
bacon, the larger breeds of hogs are generally reared ; for 
pork, the smaller varieties are selected. 

HEDGES. These fences are beginning to be used ex- 
tensively in some parts of the United States, both as a nat- 
ural defence against encroachments, and as ornaments to 
wire-fences of small gardens. In England, the application of 
hedges for public roads and private enclosures is so exten- 
sive, that the linear extent has been supposed to be many 
times the circumference of the whole earth. 

Hedges for mere ornament and shade are made of Rihes 
sanguinea, or Flowering Currant, of Tree Box, of Ivy and 
other hardy climbers, of some species of the Buckthorn, and 
of Arbor Vitge ; of this last there are some very fine exam- 
ples in Jefferson County, Virginia. 

Hedges to exclude cattle and trespassers are made of the 
common English Hawthorn (^Cratcegiis Oxyacanthd), and 
different species of North American thorns of the same genus. 
Among the numerous varieties of American Thorns is the 
Cockspur Hawthorn (Gratcegus Grus-galU); this and its varie- 
ties have fine glossy leaves of dark green. G. Pyracantha has 
pure white flowers and brilliant red berries, which are abun- 
dant enough to have given it the name in France of Buis- 
son ardent, or the Burning Bush ; it grows well in many 
parts of America, but perhaps is not native. It produces its 
white blossoms after its third year, annually, in June, when 
the American Hawthorn ( Gratcegus coccinea) is in bloom. 

It is best to choose for a hedge that kind of Hawthorn 



INK. 201 

that takes most kindly to the neighboring soil of the grounds 
to be enclosed. 

" In Great Britain," writes Timothy Pickering, " hedge 
fences are generally accompanied by ditch and bank ; prin- 
cipally (I presume) because the ditch and bank, aided by a 
slight railing, make an immediate fence ; and because in flat 
grounds ditches serve for drains. But in America, where 
wood is yet sufficient in quantity for complete fences, while 
the hedges are growing, and where, too, we are subject to 
heavier rains, which cause destructive gullies, doubtless Mr. 
Main's plan of plain hedging, without ditch and bank, is most 
eligible. A ditch is an artificial gully, which in sloping grounds 
every considerable rain must mischievously increase." 

This distinguished man was among the first in this coun- 
try to set out the Locust-tree {Rohinia Pseudacacia) as a 
hedge. From the rapidity of its growth, its bearing the 
shears, and the tendency of the stems to interlace with one 
another, it makes a good hedge. If the seeds of Locust are 
sown, it should be when frosts are over, and in rows far 
enough apart to admit the hoe. When two years old, they 
are generally fit to set out. 

All the species of Cratcegus or Hawthorn grow best in dry 
soils. " The seeds of the common Hawthorn often lie," says 
Mrs. Loudoun, " two years in the ground before they ger- 
minate, if not prepared before sowing by being suffered to 
lie for several months in what is called a rot-heap, and 
which is often turned over during that time, to prevent the 
seeds from having their vital powers destroyed by the heat 
generated by fermentation. The finer kinds of thorns are 
generally grafted or budded on seedlings of the common 
Hawthorn." , 

INK. The best inks are such as are made of the nut- 
gall and sulphate of iron, and gum-arabic. Other substances 



202 JELLIES. 

are often added, such as logwood, sulphate of copper, and 
sugar. Dr. Bancroft's receipt, for proportions, is twelve oun- 
ces of galls, to be boiled with six of logwood, in five quarts of 
soft water, for two hours, the decoction to be strained, and 
made up one gallon, to which five ounces of sulphate of iron, 
five of gum-arabic, and two of muscovado sugar, are to be 
added. A simpler mode has the authority of a celebrated 
chemist ; it is to infuse three ounces of galls, one of logwood, 
one of sulphate of iron, and one of gum-arabic, in a quart of 
cold water for a week, adding four grains of corrosive subli- 
mate to prevent mouldiness. An extraction of the soluble 
parts of the galls may be more economically attained by the 
repeated affusion of fresh portions of the water, than by 
steeping them in the whole at once. A single drop of oil of 
lavender prevents ink from moulding. Put one drop to a 
pint. (Quarterly Review, No. 21, Art. XIV.) 

INDIAN MEAL. This article should not be bought in 
large quantities for family use ; it should be kept in a cool 
closet, and many housekeepers place in the centre of their 
meal chest or tub a large clean stone ; it tends to prevent 
fermentation, and to keep the meal cool. 

Indian Bread. 
Boil a cupful of sifted meal in a little water and salt till 
nearly dry, stirring often ; let it cool, then add five eggs well 
beaten, and enough rich milk to make a thin batter. Bake 
in a quick oven, in small tins. Butter the tins. 

JELLIES. Almost all frnit-jelhes are made by adding 
a pound of sugar to a pint of strained juice of fruit ; yet if 
the best white loaf-sugar is used, and the fruit is just ripe, 
and gathered when the weather is dry, and the extracted 
juice is reduced by boiling, a pound of sugar to a quart will 



LAMB. 203 

make lighter and clearer jellies. The exceptions are cran- 
berry, gooseberry, and blackberry, which all require a pound 
of sugar to a pint of juice. 

We shall give one receipt, which may answer for several. 

Currant Jelly. 

Strip currants that are just ripe into a stone jar, cover the 
jar, and set it into a kettle of warm water ; let it boil one 
hour over a moderate fire. Pass a linen or flannel jelly- 
bag through hot water, wring it dry, and pour tlie currant 
juice into the bag, secured to the table with a dish under it. 
Do not squeeze the bag. When the juice has escaped the 
bag, measure it, and against each quart of the juice weigh one 
pound of the best quality of white sugar. Put the juice 
without the sugar into a porcelain kettle, and let it boil up 
once. Take it off and put in the sugar, which should be 
crushed to a powder, and add it gradually* while the juice is 
hot. Put the jelly into tumblers, cover with thin paper, cut 
to the glass, and paste white paper on the outside to exclude 
the air. Keep it in a dry, cool place. 

Jellies that are mawkishly sweet are flavored with a little 
lemon-juice. 

Black-currant jelly would be very close and thick, if a 
little water were not added to the fruit when it is put into 
the jar to boil. 

Where inferior sugar is used, it should be put in with the 
fruit, and carefully skimmed. Jellies require to be boiled 
longer when the sugar is indifferent. 

LAMB. This delicate meat should have the kidney fresh 
and fat, the quarters thick, and in the fore-quarter the vein 
of the neck should be, if fresh, blue. 

The leg may be boiled or roasted. When boiled, let it sim- 



204 LARD. 

mer slowly. If small, that is, weighing about four pounds, 
three quarters of an hour will cook it. Shoulder of lamb 
may have the bone removed, the vacancy stuffed with force- 
meat, and be baked in an oven, or braised in a Dutch oven. 
The leg is sometimes prepared in this manner. 

Breast of lamb has the chine-bone chopped off. Notch the 
breast well, and either roast it, or stew it with gravy and 
a sprinkling of sweet herbs and mixed spices ; finish by 
browning it in an oven. Serve it with green peas or as- 
paragus. 

Lamb cutlets are taken from the neck. Trim them, flatten 
them with a small mallet or the back of the knife, season 
them with pepper and salt, egg and bread-crumb them, beat 
them gently, dip them into a little" clarified butter, and give 
them another dressing with egg and grated bread-crumbs. 
Fry them a delicate brown, using clarified butter, or sweet 
olive-oil. Lamb cutlets may be simply seasoned and broiled 
plainly. 

Lamb chops are cut from the loin, taking off the flap, 
cutting the chops not quite an inch in thickness. The loin 
can have about eight chops taken from it, three of which 
should have a bit of kidney to them. Heat the gridiron, 
rub a little beef-suet on it, place two or three of the chops 
on it, and place them over clear coals, free from smoke. As 
the chops warm, season with salt and pepper. Broil them 
a light brown, and serve hot with bits of butter placed be- 
tween each chop. 

LARD. This is extracted from the leaf or inner fat of 
a newly slaughtered pig or hog. After trimming the skin 
and fibrous parts off, it may be cut into pieces and placed 
over a moderate fire, with a little water, say a large cupful ; 
as it heats, the water evaporates. Stir it frequently ; dip off 
the fat as it melts, and strain it into clean stone jars. When 



MEASURES AND WEIGHTS. 205 

cool, cover the jars closely, and keep them in a cool, dry 
place. The first dippings will be whiter lard than the last. 

This leaf-fat may be converted into lard by another pro- 
cess. Fill ajar with the fat broken into pieces, and set the 
jar into a pot of boiling water ; as the fat melts, strain it, and 
proceed as already directed. 

LEMON SIRUP. Squeeze the juice from fresh lemons, 
strain it, and to every pint of juice add a pound of the best 
double-refined loaf-sugar. Crush the sugar with a rolling- 
pin, and stir it gradually into the strained juice. Put the 
whole into a preserving-kettle, over a moderate fire. As it 
heats, skim it ; when it comes to a boil, take it ofi* the fire, 
pour it into a large china bowl, and in twenty-four hours 
bottle it in fresh sweet bottles. You may, if you please, add 
one table-spoonful of pure French brandy to each bottle. 
Cork closely, and keep the sirup in a cool, dry closet. 

MEASURES AND WEIGHTS. The labors of sci- 
entific men and the authority of governments have always 
been directed towards discovering and enacting one common 
weight and measure. Laws were enacted in England to 
this effect as early as Edgar ; afterwards, as if they had not 
been effectual, the Magna Charta, cap. 25, declares : " One 
measure of wine shall be throughout our realm, and one 
measure of ale, and one measure of corn, that is to say, the 
quarter of London. And it shall be of weights as it is of 
measures." Our mother, England, from whom we have 
gathered our highest instincts of law and equity, and whose 
generous milk can never be out of us, has since been con- 
stantly engaged in endeavoring to make weights and meas- 
ures uniform throughout her dominions. 

To enter into the origin or follow the variations of stand- 
ards for weights and measures, either as created and regu- 
18 



206 MEASURES AND WEIGHTS. 

lated by political economy or scientific deductions, would be 
to exceed our limits, either of capacity or space. The origin 
of the standards appears often to have been accidental ; thus 
" Henry I. ordered the length of his arm to be the criterion 
of the yard measure ; and 51 Henry IH. declares 32 grains 
of wheat dry, taken out of the midst of the ear, to be the 
standard weight of the twentieth part of an ounce." " It is 
with this subject," says a writer in the Quarterly Review al- 
ready quoted, " as with laws and manners : constant attempts 
at improvement appear necessary even to prevent deteriora* 
tion. Experience shows that few matters have a greater 
tendency to grow worse, or more obstinately resist correc- 
tion, than common usages in weights and measures." 

I have collected the following tables of measures and 
weights, as likely to be valuable to many of my readers ; the 
first table, calculated by James M. Garnet, Esq., of Essex 
County, Va., was first pubUshed in Mr. Ruffin's Farmer's 
Register ; the second is taken from the Agricultural Journal 
of New York. 

Garnet's Table. 

A box 24 inches by 16 inches square, and 22 inches deep, 
will contain a barrel, or 10,752 cubic inches. 

A box 24 inches by 16 inches square, and 11 inches deep, 
will contain a half-barrel, or 5,376 cubic inches. 

A box 16 inches by 16.8 inches square, and 8 inches deep, 
will contain a bushel, or 2,150.4 cubic inches. 

A box 12 inches by 11.2 inches square, and 8 inches 
deep, will contain half a bushel, or 1,075 cubic inches. 

A box 8 inches by 8.4 inches square, and 8 inches deep, 
wull contain one peck, or 537.6 cubic inches. 

A box 8 inches by 8 inches square, and 4.2 inches deep, 
will contain one half-peck, or 268.8 cubic inches. 

A box 7 inches by 4 inches square, and 4.8 inches deep, 
will contain a half-gallon, or 131.4 cubic inches. 



MEASURES AND WEIGHTS. 207 

A box 4 inches by 4 inches square, and 4.2 inches deep, 
■will contain one quart, or 67.2 cubic inches. 

These measures come within a small fraction of a cubic 
inch of being accurate, and are as absolutely perfect as 
any measures of capacity for common use have ever been 
made. 

Table of the Niimher of Pounds of various Articles to a Bushel. 

Of Wheat, sixty pounds. 
Of Shelled Corn, fifty-six pounds. 
Of Corn on the cob, seventy-five pounds. 
Of Rye, fifty-six pounds. 
Of Oats, thirty-two pounds. 
Of Barley, forty-eight pounds. 
Of Middling, forty-five pounds. 
.«0f Bran, twelve pounds. 
Of Shorts, eighteen pounds. 
Of Clover-seed, sixty pounds. 
Of Timothy-seed, fifty-six pounds. 
Of Hemp-seed, forty-four pounds. 
Of Blue-grass-seed, fourteen pounds. 
Of Castor-beans, forty-six pounds. 
Of Dried Peaches, thirty-three pounds. 
Of Dried Apples, twenty-five pounds. 
Of Onions, fifty-seven pounds. 
Of Salt, fifty pounds. 
Of Mineral Coal, seventy pounds. 

Measuring Grain in Bulk. 

To reduce solid feet to bushels, multiply the number of 
sohd feet by 45, and divide the product by 56 : the quotient 
will be the number of bushels. 

Reason. — As one bushel contains 2,150.4 inches, one solid 
foot is f f of a bushel. 



208 PARSNIPS. 

Example. — How many bushels in a box or crib 8 feet 
long, 4 feet wide, and 2 feet deep? Multiply the length by 
the width and depth, and the product by 45, which, divided 
by ^^^ gives 21-^, the number of bushels which the box 
contains. (New York Tribune.) 

MUTTON. This meat is procured from the outer isl- 
ands of Maine, of excellent flavor. Mutton made from a 
five-year-old wether is nicest for the table, and if made 
from a sheep under three years it is flabby and vapid, not 
matured in its rich juices. A leg of mutton may be hung 
about a week or ten days before it is cooked. In color, rich 
mutton is of a clear, darkish red. 

When a leg is boiled, it is generally liked underdone, and 
then some slices can be sent to the kitchen for -a broil, if any 
guest prefer it so served. Mashed turnips and caper-sauce 
are served with a boiled leg of mutton. 

The leg and many other pieces of the sheep may be 
roasted or stuffed with forcemeat and baked, adding to the 
gravy a little port or claret wine. Mutton to be roasted 
may be kept longer than that to be boiled; it should be 
trimmed of all strOng, musty bits, and well wiped with pep- 
per and salt before going to the fire. See Lanib. 

ONIONS. These vegetables should be skinned and 
soaked half an hour in cold water before they are cooked, 
and when half cooked the water should be poured from them 
and renewed by fresh cold water. Onions boiled in milk 
lose much of their bitter taste. Rareripes or onions from 
the bulb are sold in bunches of two and a half pounds ; on- 
ions from the seed, in bunches of three and a half pounds. 

PAKSNIPS. Wash and scrape them well; if old, they 
will take nearly an hour's boiling, but by probing it can be 
ascertained when they are tender; divide those which are 



PEACH. 209 

large. If milk is plenty, boil them in milk and water. 
They are served with boiled dishes, simply boiled ; with roasts 
they are sliced and fried in sweet lard or butter, \mt must 
first be boiled. They are sweetest in spring, after being 
wintered in the ground. 

PASTRY. To one pound and a quarter of flour add a 
quarter of a pound of nice lard, rubbing it well into your 
flour ; add water till it is stiff enough to put on your paste- 
board, allowing it still to be as soft as it can be worked. 
Sift flour over your board, and lay the paste on. Have 
ready a pound of butter, from which the salt and buttermilk 
have been worked and pressed out ; put the butter in pieces 
all over your paste, dust over a little flour, fold up your paste, 
and roll it out. Again put bits of butter all over the surface 
of the paste, then flour and roll it in as before, and proceed 
in this way till your butter is all worked into the paste. 

PEACH {Am7jg dolus Persica). This fruit is said to be 
grown in larger quantities in the United States than in any 
other country in the world ; it is principally, however, in the 
Middle, Western, and Southern States that it is success- 
fully cultivated. In the Eastern States it is raised only with 
great care, and constantly deteriorates in quality. The 
health and duration of peach-orchards depend upon the 
care with which the seed has been selected, which, to pro- 
duce healthy seedhngs, should be taken from districts where 
the Yellows is not prevalent, upon the nature of the soil, and 
the care with which over-luxuriance is checked by pruning 
the extremities of the trees. 

" The very best soil," says Downing, " for the peach, is a 

rich, deep sandy loam ; next to this, a strong, mellow loam ; 

then a light, thin, sandy soil ; and the poorest is a heavy, 

compact clay soil. In ordinary cases, the duration of peach- 

18* 



210 PEACH. 

orchards in the light, sandy soil is rarely more than three 
years in a bearing state. In a stronger soil, with a proper 
attention to the shortening system of pruning, it may be pro- 
longed to twenty or more years." 

Where soil is thin and light, the peach-orchard receives 
top-dressing, and the sod should not be allowed to become 
hard and stubborn ; strong soils may be opened by the 
plough, and kept under culture with advantage to the trees. 
The space allowed between peach-trees in orchards varies 
from sixteen to twenty-five feet, the greater space being 
given to warm climates and rich soils. 

A peach-stone planted in autumn vegetates the following 
spring, and may be budded in August or September ; in two 
years more it gives a small crop of fruit, and the next sea- 
son, if not too luxuriant in growth, yields to the cultivator a 
generous crop. 

For preserving the peach whole, select the large October 
Clingstones ; pare them and weigh to them an equal weight 
of sugar. Crush the sugar with a rolling-pin, and sprinkle 
it over the peaches ; after they have stood a few hours in 
the sugar, put them in the preserving-pan with a little water. 
Scald them, and remove them carefully with a perforated 
ladle to a flat dish. Boil and skim the sirup, put the fruit 
with some blanched kernels again to the sirup, and preserve 
the peaches very slowly till transparent. 

Peach Marmalade is made of the Yellow Freestone. Pare 
and stone them, and put one pound of good brown sugar to 
every two pounds of fruit. Put it over the fire without wa- 
ter if the fruit is juicy ; stir it frequently, and let it boil till 
it becomes transparent. It is very nice for pies. 

Brandied Peaches. 
The large, white peach, just ripe, is taken for this pur- 
pose. Place them in lye to remove the down ; let the lye be 



PEAR. 211 

weak and cold. Take them out and rub the woolly down 
off with a coarse crash towel. Have a rich clarified sirup 
prepared, and pour it scalding hot over the peaches ; fill up 
the jar with pure French brandy. When cool, cover closely. 
If you use glass jars, pour the scalding sirup over the fruit 
in a stone vessel. 

PEAR (Ppncs communis, L.). The pear-tree is not a 
native of America, but has been introduced from Europe. 
" The seeds," says Downing, " should be sown precisely like 
those of the apple, in broad drills, and the treatment of the 
stocks^ when planted in the rows for budding, is quite simi- 
lar. Budding is almost universally preferred by us for 
propagating the pear, and this tree takes so readily that 
very few failures can happen to an experienced hand." See 
Budding. 

Seedhngs are considered the best stocks for pears. Seed- 
lings of plebeian birth, but strong and healthy, are to be pre- 
ferred to a seedling from a pampered variety. To get seed- 
ling stocks, clean the seed as soon as the fruit is matured, 
and sow it in deep rich soil ; if you have no such soil, trench 
about two feet deep, and fill up with compost corrected by 
ashes. A healthy seedling of two years' growth is fit for 
budding. 

The dwarf tree pear is the pear grafted on some slow- 
growing hardy stock. The Quince is usually preferred ; some 
large pears are said to be improved in habit and flavor by 
being grafted on this stock ; Downing instances the Duchess 
of Angouleme as so improved. The dwarf tree is generally 
short-lived ; its advantages are in the brief time requisite to 
bring fruit to the cultivator, and its economy and nattiness 
for a small garden. Though we find the pear-tree in a great 
variety of soils, yet a damp soil induces disease, and a soil 
too rich and deep tends to create a rank, unripened luxuri- 



212 PEAR. 

ance. The pear-tree requires but little pruning. In exten- 
sive orchards in warm latitudes, the pear-tree is sometimes 
planted thirty feet distant each way ; in fruit gardens, where 
the heads are occasionally pruned, twenty feet is often con- 
sidered sufficient. Pear-trees whose first vigor has gone by 
require every autumn a moderate top-dressing of manure, 
instead of violent enriching, which induces disease. 

The pear is attacked by an insect, Scolytus pyri, whose rav- 
ages produce the disease called the insect blight ; the leaves 
become dry and brownish black, and the wood becomes dry 
and hard. Remedy : — Cut oif the diseased branches as soon 
as the disease is noticed, some inches below the withered, 
blighted symptoms of disease, and burn the branches. 

The Frozen-sap Blight. 

This is a more serious disease than the former, the dis- 
eased sap spreading infection over the whole tree. It is in- 
duced generally in soils that are over-rich, and force second 
growths in the same season, whose wood is unripened for 
winter ; varieties of the pear which mature early are not so 
liable to feel this disease as the later growing sorts. Culti- 
vators have found that the means of warding off the visits of 
this disease are to select a rich but well drained or dry soil, 
to cultivate such varieties as mature their wood early, to 
avoid severe summer pruning and prune in winter or early 
spring, to reject cold soils and situations as not favorable for 
speedy growth and maturing of wood, and to abstain from sum- 
mer manuring, as calculated to over-stimulate and bring on a 
second growth of branches. Cut off the affected parts some 
distance below the diseased wood ; if it spreads, cut again. 
Burn the branches as you cut them. • 

Most varieties of pear have the fruit more highly flavored 
by ripening it in the house ; gather it when it parts readily 
from the stalk, and has assumed its double color ; spread the 



PICKLES. 213 

fruit on floors or shelves. Winter dessert pears are allowed 
to remain till there is danger from frost. 

The varieties of pears are too extensive to be mentioned 
in a work like the present : every year adds to them. " Des- 
sert pears," says Downing, " should have a melting, soft text- 
ure, and a sugary, aromatic juice. Kitchen pears, for baking 
or stewing, should be large, with firm and crisp flesh, mod- 
erately juicy." 

Perry, the fermented juice of the pear, is prepared much 
the same way as cider ; it makes a milder and probably more 
wholesome drink. A pleasant vinegar is made from it. 
The large pound pear is gently stewed, after being pared till 
soft, in a weak sirup made of brown sugar. 

Some of the varieties of winter pears arc usually chosen 
for preserves and marmalade. Owing to the sweetness of the 
pear, an equal weight of sugar is not taken for the preserve, 
and a little preserved ginger-root or lemon-juice is added to 
the sirup of the pear. 

PEAS. Green peas should be put into boiling water 
with a little salt, and some of the less sweet varieties are im- 
proved by a piece of sugar. Leave the pot uncovered, and 
boil rapidly. Twenty minutes will cook them if young. 
Drain them, and put bits of fresh butter in the dish and on 
top of the peas. 

PEPPER. Piper nigrum is a plant which grows in India. 
This shrub produces common pepper, the unripe berries be- 
ing the common black pepper ; the matured seed, or berries 
deprived of their epidermis, is the white pepper of commerce. 

PICKLES. These articles are prepared by greening 
them with salt and water, and then steaming them in spiced 
vinegar, or the salt is used, to give some articles firmness. 



214 PICKLES. 

Many housekeepers do not boil their vinegar because it loses 
strength by it, but pour it on to their pickles scalding hot. 
Put pickles in stone jars or glass vessels, never in glazed 
dishes. Pickles are made yellow by being taken from the 
brine, wiped, and exposed on a cloth to the action of the 
sun, and turned frequently ; if they become white after the 
first day, they should be put with some turmeric powder into 
cold vinegar, and afterwards into spiced vinegar. 

To pickle cucumbers, beans, and gherkins, put them in 
salt and water, changing the water every other day ; let them 
remain nine days, drain them, and put scalding vinegar over 
them. Use good wine or cider vinegar for pickles. 

To pickle onions, take the small button-onions, bury them 
in salt six days, then skin and trim them with a sharp knife ; 
throw boiling water over them three times, allowing them to 
cool each time in the water. After the third scalding put them 
in a glass jar, and fill it up with white French vinegar, put on 
cold. Put a little salad-oil on the top of the jar, and cover 
closely with a bit of bladder over the cork, or use bottle ce- 
ment. 

Mangoes are made either of the muskmelon or cantelope. 
Make a slit with a sharp knife, remove the seeds, and fill 
them, after they have been kept in a strong brine of salt and 
water for nine days, pouring it over hot the first day. Rinse 
and dry the melons with a cloth, and stuff them with mustard- 
seed, pepper-corns, mace, cloves, one small onion and a gher- 
kin to each, a bit of cinnamon and scraped horseradish, filling 
till they are plumped, and tie each with coarse twine. Make 
a bag of linen cloth and fill it with ginger-root, cloves, mace, 
and such spices as you please, and lay it over the mangoes 
after they are laid in the jar. When the strength of the 
spices is spent, refill the bag with fresh spice. Cover closely. 

To pickle cherries, take them when they are just ripe but 
while the flesh is firm, trim the stems, put a layer in a jar, 



PIG. 215 

and sprinkle a little powdered loaf-sugar over them. Pro- 
ceed till the jar is two thirds full, then pour over pale white 
vinegar, and put a large spoonful of salad-oil on top. Bar- 
berries in bunches, and peaches not over ripe, may be pickled 
in a similar manner ; only these require to be steeled, and the 
sugar may be boiled in the vinegar and the sirup be poured 
over a little hot. 

To pickle cauliflowers, take the fairest blooms and steep 
them in scalding brine for a few minutes, drain them, and, 
pulling them into branches, put them into glass jars and pour 
cold vinegar over them. 

To pickle the Black "Walnut (Juglans nigra), and the 
Butternut (J. cinereci), gather the nuts when they may be 
easily pierced with a coarse needle ; in New England this 
is towards the last of June. Put them into salt and water, 
and shift them every other day for twenty days. Take 
them out, drain them dry, turning them to expose them to 
the air. Put them into jars. Boil in vinegar cloves, horse- 
radish, and onions, and pour over them boiling hot. Tie 
up a little bag of ginger and put it on top of each jar. Tie 
down close with leather or bladder to exclude the air. In 
three months they will be fit for use. 

PIG, TO ROAST. Take a pig four or five weeks old, 
well cleaned and washed, truss his feet and skewer them, tie 
them down fiat; take next some slices of bread, butter and 
sift pulverized sage over them, put them in the body of the 
pig, and sew him up. Put your pig on the spit, have a brisk 
fire with about a pint of salt and water in the dripping-pan ; 
make a swab and swab it to prevent its burning ; when quite 
brown, butter freely. Have from the pan where the pig is 
roasted a full pint of gravy, take the harslet, previously boiled, 
chop it fine with the brains from the head, adding part of the 
bread which was in the pig after cutting him for the table. 



216 PLUM. 

and put all these to the gravy ; if you find the gravy not rich 
enough, add a piece of butter. Divide the pig down the 
back, after having separated the head. Put it on the dish 
feet outward, the brown skin of course upwards, and the 
head on either side ; or put it on separate dishes half and 
half, placing them at opposite ends of the table. Before re- 
moving the pig from the spit, expose it on each side to the 
cold air that it may crisp. A pig of the above age takes 
about two hours before a good fire. It must be attended to 
constantly, or it will get scorched. 

PLUM (Primus domestica, L.). The plum of our gar- 
dens is from the southern parts of Europe, or from Asia, but 
it has become thoroughly naturalized ; the wild native plums, 
of which there are two or three distinct species, have never 
been much cultivated. The plum-tree is hardy, and requires 
little pruning, excepting to cut oif diseased branches, and to 
thin off a crowded top. Pruning is always undertaken before 
midsummer, to prevent the flow of sap. 

The plum is easily propagated by sowing the seeds of any 
hardy variety, excepting the damsons, which are rather un- 
certain, and budding the seedlings Avhen about two years old 
with desirable varieties. Soils charged with heavy clay are 
favorable for the plum. The muck from salt-water marshes is 
excellent manure for this fruit-tree, and common salt is also 
much approved of; it is applied to the surface of the soil un- 
der each matured healthy tree, early in spring, in proportions 
regulated by the size and constitution of the tree ; some cul- 
tivators put half a peck of coarse salt to large bearing trees, 
sprinkling the surface as far as the branches extend. Salt 
is excellent for the plum-tree, both as a fertilizer and as a 
preventive to the attacks of the curculio, or plum-weevil 
(Rhynchcemis Nenuphar)^ an insect whose ravages sometimes 
entirely destroy the hopes of the cultivator of the smooth- 



PLUM. 217 

skinned stone-fruits. Punctured by this insect, the fruit falls 
when only partially ripe to the ground. The best remedy 
is said to be a hard, heavy soil, unpropitious for the workings 
or life of the insect or its larvce. The next is to destroy all 
the punctured plums as they fall, to jar the tree with a mal- 
let swathed in cloth, and catch the plums on a spread cloth, 
destroying the fruit, and to allow fowls to run in the orchard. 
Keep the earth around plum-trees free from weeds, so that 
insects may be more readily discovered, and the smoother 
and harder it is kept the better. 

The Knots, Black Wart, or Black Gum, is only to be de- 
stroyed by cutting off the infected branches and burning them. 
This disease is thought to be the work of an insect, but noth- 
ing has ever been demonstrated with regard to the cause or 
causes. 

To preserve Plums, select handsome fruit, not too ripe, 
and of a fine flavor ; mawkishly sweet fruit makes an indif- 
ferent preserve. Pare and divide them to remove the stone, 
keeping them as whole as possible. Weigh to their weight 
an equal quantity of the best loaf-sugar. Crack the stones, 
and blanch the kernels. Lay the fruit hollow upwards in flat 
dishes, and sift white sugar over them. Let them stand over 
night. Li the morning cover the bottom of the kettle with 
the fruit, putting to them a little water ; let them simmer very 
slowly, and spread them after they have simmered a few min- 
utes, as before, on flat dishes. Make the sirup of the weighed 
sugar flavored with the kernels of the plum-stones. Put the 
plums in glass jars, and when the sirup is only warm pour 
it over the plums. The sirup should be clear and thick. 
When cool, cover with brandied papers, and white paper 
turned over and pasted down. Plums after being first sim- 
mered are sometimes preserved in apple jelly. 

The best prunes are exported from France, and are made 
near Tours of the St. Catherine plum, and the Prune d'Agen; 
19 



218 PRESERVES. 

the Provence plums and otlier kinds are also used ; these last 
are called in England French plums. See Downing. 

PORK, TO CUT UP. Take off the head of the hog just 
below the ears, cut him open right up and down the back, 
and take the leaf-fat out for the lard ; then take a strip from 
the pig's belly about one eighth of a yard in width, this is 
not so nice as the leaf, and is not usually mixed with prime 
lard. Turn the hog and cut out his legs and shoulders, then 
cut out the spareribs and chine-bones, leaving the fat as thick 
as possible for salting ; that is, cut very little fat pork out with 
the spareribs and chine bones. Cut the remainder of the pork 
in strips the length of the carcass and an eighth of a yard 
in width, and bend them so as to pack them for salting in the 
barrel. 

The fat round the intestines of pork is usually tried out for 
soap and similar uses. 

POTATOES, TO BOIL. Have your potatoes about the 
same size by dividing the larger ones. Cover them only 
with water, and sprinkle a little salt between each layer of 
potatoes. Put them in cold water and allow them to simmer 
slowly. Probe them to see if they are done ; if they receive 
the fork easily, pour off all the water, and leave the kettle 
uncovered, and near enough to the fire to evaporate the moist- 
ure of the potatoes, but not to scorch them. 

POULTRY, TO PLUCK. Turkeys and chickens, after 
being bled to death by sticking or making an incision in the 
neck, should be put into scalding, but not boiling-hot water, 
and be stripped of their feathers. Geese and ducks may be 
put to water that is nearly of a boiling heat, and then steamed 
in a thick cloth that the down may be easily removed. 

PRESERVES. Where fruit is to be kept for months 



PUDDINGS. 219 

by being preserved in sugar, it is the best economy to pro- 
cure the double-refined loaf-sugar; then nothing is lost by 
clarifying and separation of scum when making the sirup, 
though when the fruit is added, the crude acids that float to 
the surface should be removed. Let the sugar be always 
dissolved in the water before going over the fire. Parboil 
and skim most fruits in a weak sirup, and then cool them be- 
fore putting them into the rich sirup made of sugar in equal 
weight with the fruit. All fruits should simmer gently till soft 
and transparent, and a kettle be kept for the single purpose 
of preserving them ; the porcelain-lined kettles are desirable. 
Select fruit for preserving that is just ripe, and very fair. 
Most stone-fruit should have the stone taken out to keep 
well. See receipts under respective heads. 

To preserve Ginger Root, soak the quantity you wish to 
preserve two days in. warm water, then scrape it, and slice it 
rather thin ; make a sirup of the sugar after weighing it an 
equal weight of the root ; take a little of the sirup, dilute it 
with water, boil the root in it till it is tender, then skim out 
the root, add the remainder of the sirup, and boil and skim 
the sirup till it is thick and quite clear ; pour it over the gin- 
ger when cold. 

PUDDINGS. As the intelligent housekeeper varies 
these dishes to her fancy or convenience, we shall not give 
large space to them. 

All boiled puddings should have room left them in the 
cloth to swell, else they will be hard ; they should be tied in 
such a manner as not to admit the water, or they will be 
water-soaked ; they should be often turned in the pot to pre 
vent berries or raisins from settling ; a plate should be put 
into the bottom of the pot, that the pudding may not get 
scorched. Before the pudding is put into the cloth, this last 
should be wrung out of hot water, be well shaken, and then 



220 PUDDINGS. 

be dredged inside with flour. The cloth, if washed out in hot 
lye instead of soap and water, will be sweeter, and free of 
the soapy taste that cooks sometimes permit to adhere to 
these things. Russia sheeting makes good pudding-cloths. 

Farmer's Pudding. 
To one cup and a half of cold water, put a large teaspoon- 
ful of salt, one cup of molasses, one full cup of beef-suet, one 
full cup of raisins, flour enough to make it stiff. Tie it in a 
pudding-cloth, giving it room to swell ; when the water boils, 
put in your pudding, putting in a coarse plate to prevent 
the pudding from burning before it rises. Three hours 
will cook it. Be careful not to allow the water to stop 
boiling. 

Squash Pudding. 

One gill of squash, one gill of milk, one egg, one ounce of 
butter ; rose-water, sugar, and spice to your taste. 

Marlborough Pudding. 
Six table-spoonfuls of apple after it is stewed and strained 
through a sieve. Six eggs, six ounces of sugar, six ounces of 
butter, the juice and grated peel of a lemon, a small blade of 
mace pounded, a table-spoonful of rose-water ; melt the but- 
ter and stir it in just before you put the pudding into the 
oven. Both the Marlborough and Squash puddings are 
baked in paste. 

Thanksgiving Plum-Pudding. 

One loaf and a quarter of baker's bread grated and sift- 
ed without the crusts, one pound and a half of stoned rai- 
sins, six ounces of butter. Butter the dish and cover with 
bread ; then a layer of raisins and small lumps of butter al- 
ternately until your dish is two thirds full. Then pour over 
the following custard : to nine gills of milk add ten eggs, 



QUINCE. 221 

one half-pound of sugar, beating the sugar and eggs too-ether, 
one glass of wine, one half-glass of rose-water, one glass of 
brandy, one teaspoonful of -^ saleratus dissolved in milk, two 
nutmegs, and a httle salt. Two hours will bake it, and 
if the directions are followed, it is a delicious pudding. 

Sauce for the Same. 

To one half-gill of wine, and the same of rose-water, half a 
pound of loaf-sugar, and a lump of butter as large as a good- 
sized egg. Put it over a moderate fire, and stir it for fif- 
teen minutes; when it has boiled up well, grate half a 
nutmeg into the sauce-boat, and pour the sauce in. 

QUINCE i^Cydonia vulgaris). This tree is a native of 
Europe. Its reputation commenced in the city of Cydon, 
in Crete or Candia, whence its botanical name. 

The Quince may be grown either as a bush or a tree. It 
may be propagated from seed, layers, or cuttings ; but the seed 
is uncertain, the seedlings sometimes being the apple-shaped 
and as often the pear-shaped variety, though taken from the 
first, and vice versa. Cuttings, shaded and planted early in 
spring, root readily, and most cultivators recommend this 
mode of securing a good variety. The approved sorts may 
also be budded on common seedling Quince stocks, or on the 
common Thorn. We have seen that the Pear is dwarfed on 
Quince stocks. The Quince should have a deep, rich soil, 
and an annual top-dressing of manure, to have the fruit in 
perfection. It requires but little pruning ; to be reheved of 
crowded or unhealthy branches is here its only need. It 
has visits from the Borer ; but this and other insects must be 
watched and destroyed, as directed for the Apple-tree. 

There are three very distinct varieties of the Quince that 
are es^^ecially useful. The Apple-shaped Quince or Orange 
Quince. Fruit of the size of the largest apple, skin smooth, 
19* 



222 QUINCE. 

color fine golden. The most popular fruit for preserving, as 
it cooks tender, and the trees bear abundant crops. There 
are inferior varieties of this species. 

• The Pear-shaped Quince or Oblong Quince, formed like a 
pear, ripens a fortnight later than the Apple Quince. Flesh 
is rather tough, and makes an inferior preserve when com- 
pared to the above, both in color and tenderness. It has an 
aromatic flavor, and affords a good jelly. 

The Portugal Quince has a healthy growth, with a leaf 
larger and broader than the more common varieties. Its 
healthy habits make it a favorite with many gardeners for 
stocks on which to engraft or bud the Pear. The fruit is of 
the largest size, oblong ; but the color of the skin is not so 
deep an orange as that of the other kinds. 

The Portugal Quince yields a scanty crop, and is styled 
by cultivators a shy bearer, and is not consequently so gen- 
erally cultivated as the Apple Quince; its fruit is milder 
than that of other quinces, cooks more tenderly, and assumes 
when cooked a purplish-crimson color. 

The Musk Quince bears fruit of only half the size of the 
common sorts. It is highly scented, but owing to its size is 
little cultivated for market. 

Besides these useful varieties, there are ornamental varie- 
ties from Japan and China. They are exceedingly pretty 
and well-known garden shrubs. 

The Japan Quince {Cydonia Japonica) has small dark- 
green leaves, and clusters of brilliant scarlet blossoms. Fruit 
useless. 

The Blush Japan is very like the above, excepting that 
the flowers are white and blush. 

The Chinese Quince ( Gydonia Sinensis) has ovul leaves, 
glossy surface, small, red blossom, with a dcHcate odor. The 
leaves red-tinted in autumn. The fruit ripens late; it is 
a large oval, and is said to make an agreeable preserve. 

Quince-trees are set about ten feet apart. 



QUINCE. 223 

To Preserve Quinces. 
Rub the quinces hard with a clean coarse cloth, scald them 
till you can pass a fork through them, then peel them and 
cut them in quarters ; remove all the hard substance which 
is found in the centre of the fruit after the core is taken out 
(for this spoils the quince if left in). Then take the sirup 
which has been previously prepared thus : To every pound 
of sugar one half-pint of water, and in proportion to four 
pounds of sugar the white of one egg, put them together 
cold, and when dissolved put it over a moderate fire to sim- 
mer gently ; do not touch it while simmering, but when it 
begins to rise, have ready to pour upon it half a teacup of 
cold water ; when it swells up the second time, put in another 
half-teacup of cold water ; but when it rises the third time, 
take it off gently from the fire, and sit it by to cool twenty 
minutes ; then skim it and pour it off, wash the kettle clean, 
cover the bottom with the quince, pour over just sirup enough 
to cover them, and let them simmer gently till the sirup be- 
comes a jelly. Keep the kettle covered (except when you 
are removing the scum, which will rise, and must be taken 
off), and if the Apple Quince is used, the fruit will be perfect- 
ly white and well done ; take the quarters out on a dish, and 
when the sirup is cool, put them together in glasses. 

Another Way. 

Select the fairest fruit of the Apple-shaped or Portugal va- 
rieties, wipe them and peel and core them; as you divide 
them in halves and quarters, sprinkle loaf-sugar over them ; 
weigh against the fruit the best loaf-sugar, pound for pound, 
and put this sugar aside to make the sirup, as above directed. 
Put the fruit into the bottom of the preserving-kettle and 
just cover it with water ; let it simmer gently, when remove 
it to a flat dish and sift white sugar over it, and put the dish 
into an oven almost spent, leaving the door open ; do so till 



224 RABBIT. 

the whole amount has been in the oven about fifteen or 
twenty mmutes ; then take it all out, and set it one side in 
a dry closet, covering it. Make the sirup, and the following 
day preserve the quince till the sirup jelhes. Add the wa- 
ter, strained, that the fruit was partially cooked in, to the 
sirup, letting it simmer with it. The fruit thus preserved 
will have a high flavor, and be a rich, purplish red. 

Jelly may be made of the parings and the cores of the 
quince, though, where the fruit is plenty, the whole quince is 
washed, wiped, and sliced through without paring, and the 
kettle filled, and the fruit just covered with water ; when the 
fruit is tender, the whole is passed through a flannel jelly-bag. 
To each pint of juice a pound of loaf-sugar pounded is added. 
Boil about twenty minutes. If the fruit and sugar are both 
of best quality, and the water is merely enough to cover the 
quince, less sugar may be used to bring a good jelly; but 
great care is requisite in this last case, whereas the full pro- 
portions yield a jelly without trouble. 

EABBIT. We have, besides our wild rabbit (Lepus 
Ameiicanus), the European rabbit, which has been largely 
imported. Our rabbit is distinguished from the European 
rabbit {Lepus cuniculus) by its hind legs being nearly ten 
inches long, and its change of color, in the summer being 
covered with brown and ash-colored fur, which in winter be- 
comes white and increases in length ; it is frequently styled 
the American Hare. There is also the Siberian rabbit 
{Lepus tolai). 

Where the tame rabbit is reared for profit, the variety se- 
lected for breeding should be of the larger kinds. " Those 
termed," says Professor Low, " the French and Turkish rab- 
bits, are much esteemed. The rabbit selected for breeding, 
we are informed by the breeders of them, should be wide in 



RASPBERRY. 225 

the loin, and short-legged. In the management of the rab- 
bit, the utmost attention must be paid to ventilation, cleanli- 
ness, and food. The animals are most conveniently kept in 
boxes, or compartments termed hutches, one above the other 
round the room. Each hutch intended for the does should 
have two divisions, one for feeding and the other for sleep- 
ing. Those are single which are intended for the use of the 
weaned rabbits, or for the bucks, which are always removed 
from the female. There should be little troughs in the 
hutches for the food, which consists of corn, hay, roots, and 
green plants, or any farinaceous substance. Boiled potatoes 
are an excellent food for the rabbit, as for every kind of her- 
bivorous animal. The female, when the time of parturition 
approaches, makes her nest, for which hay is to be furnished 
her. She bites it with her teeth into the requisite size. 
She generally produces from five to ten young. At the end 
of six weeks the male is again admitted to her, and the young 
ones weaned, or she is allowed to suckle them for two weeks 
more. They are either sold from the teat when they are ex- 
tremely delicate, or they are kept on for a certain period 
and fattened. Good and nourishing food is to be supplied to 
them, and three months' feeding is generally considered ne- 
cessary to fatten them properly." 

The rearing of the domestic rabbit, on account of the pro- 
lificness of the animal, its wholesome flesh, and the little ex- 
pense attending its keeping, appears to be worthy of more 
attention than it has received. 

The doe carries her young about thirty days : if she be 
weak after parturition, some warm drink is given to her, 
such as milk and water, or beer caudle. Green food, such 
as clover, should not be given wet, as it produces disease ; it 
should also be varied with oats and similar substances. 

RASPBERRY {Ruhus Idceus). This shrub, it is well 



226 RASPBERRY. 

known, repays careful culture. It is propagated by suckers 
or oflfslioots, seed being used only for obtaining new varieties. 
Two or three suckers are generally put together to form a 
group or stool; plant the suckers in rows about three, or, if 
convenient, five feet apart, and the stools about three or four 
feet apart, in the rows. Let the soil be deep and rich, rather 
moist than dry. Keep them free from weeds. Prune when 
the crop is off, by cutting away old wood and feeble suckers, 
and trim back about a foot of the remaining shoots, and give 
each hill a light top-dressing of vegetable mould, and a little 
salt or sea-weed may be worked in with other fertilizers. 
The foreign varieties require to be treated in the fall like 
climbing roses : round each hill put straw and sea-weed, and, 
bending the branches gently over, cover them for the winter 
with evergreen boughs. In spring the bushes are trained, or 
simply tied to stakes or rails, so as to be exposed to the sun. 
Late fruit is obtained by cutting down some of the stools to 
within a short distance of the ground. 

A plantation of raspberries is considered to be in perfec- 
tion at the third year, and to be exhausted in five or six 
years, when a new one should be laid out on another piece 
of ground. 

The common American Red Raspberry is a native of the 
Eastern and Middle States. It is valued for cordials. (See 
Cordials.) 

The American Black, or Thimbleberry, is stewed for a 
common preserve. 

The American White is similar to the Thimbleberiy, ex- 
cepting in the color of its fruit, which is of a pale yellow or 
white. 

The most desirable foreign varieties (though these things 
are constantly progressive) are the True or New Red Ant- 
werp (the common Red Antwerp being inferior) ; the Yel- 
low Antwerp, a large light-colored raspberry ; the Fran- 



SALADS. 227 

conia, a variety imported from France by S. G. Perkins, 
Esq. of Boston ; the Fastolff Raspberry, an English variety 
of great reputation ; and some others of good reputation. 

The Ohio Everbearing is a native of Ohio ; it is like the 
American Black Raspberry, excepting that it bears late in 
the season, even to November in favorable seasons. 

A wine is made from the raspberry in the same manner as 
from the currant. Raspberry -jam may be made by weighing 
an equal quantity of sugar to the fruit, and boiling them to- 
gether. A very nice way of preserving this fruit is found 
in the following receipt. 

Raspberry-Jam. 
One pint of currant-jelly, one quart of raspberries ; ex- 
amine the fruit well to remove all insects, bruise the fruit 
and jelly together, and set over a slow fire, keeping it stu'- 
ring with a silver spoon all the time till it boils. Allow it 
to boil five or six minutes. Pour it into your glasses warm, 
papering them as you do currant-jelly. It will keep for two 
or three years, and have the full flavor of the raspberry. 

SALADS. These dishes should never be fully prepared 
till just before they make their appearance on the table, so 
that the vegetables or herbs may be crisp and light ; and 
where meats are used, as lobster and chicken, the dressing 
should be poured on at the last moment, otherwise the mus- 
tard toughens the meat, and gives the whole dish a flabby, 
spent look. 

Chicken Salad. 

Boil a hen-chicken or fowl that has a white skin till ten- 
der. When cold, cut the meat from the bones into pieces 
about an inch in size. Take a bunch of celery (or two if 
small), have it nicely cleaned, and keep in cold vrater till just 
before it is cut up. Prepare the dressing thus : Take five 



228 SAUCES. 

eggs and boil them hard for ten minutes, mash the yolks 
with a wooden spoon very smoothly, mix with them a salt- 
spoonful of salt, one table-spoonful of mild mustard (half of 
this if very sharp), three table-spoonfuls of sweet oUve-oil, 
one small teaspoonful of India soy or Worcester-sauce, three 
table-spoonfuls of vinegar. Beat the whole together. Cut 
the celery into bits of half an inch, mix it well with the 
chicken, and then shape the whole with the wooden spoon, 
and garnish with the green leaves of the celery, and slices of 
cold, hard-boiled eggs. Have the whole lie lightly, so that 
the dressing when poured on may settle all over the salad. 
Serve with a boxwood spoon and fork. 

SAUCES. These matters are best made for the most 
part in the bain-marie or double kettle, the outside compart- 
ment bemg filled with hot water ; especially should the bain- 
marie be used for butter, egg, and cream sauces. 

Melted Buttek. 

]Mix in half a gill of water smoothly two teaspoonfuls of 
flour and a little salt ; take a quarter of a pound of butter, 
and work out all buttermilk. Put the water and flour to 
the fire, and when it comes to a boil, stir in the butter till it 
is melted, then remove it from the fire. Make melted butter 
just as it is wanted. This sauce may be flavored with vari- 
ous essences, herbs, capers, or what you please. For fish, 
stir in a teaspoonful of anchovy-sauce. 

Fish Sauce. 

Bub a teaspoonful of flour into a quarter of a pound of 
butter ; when well kneaded, put it into your pan with a table- 
spoonful of water. Take the boiled liver of your fish, and 
bruise it very fine, put to it a little cayenne pepper, and a 
table-spoonful of tarragon vinegar. Just as the butter, which 



SAUCES. 229 

should be constantly shaken, begins to boil, add the liver 
with its vinegar, and remove the sauce from the fire. 
Serve in a boat, or over the fish. Vinegar may be flavored 
with tarragon by gathering the leaves of the herb in July 
or August, and filling a bottle half-full of tarragon leaves, and 
filling up with vinegar. 

Russian Sauce for Cold Meats. 

Four table-spoonfuls of grated horseradish (grate it with 
a fine grater), two spoonfuls of made mustard, one salt-spoon- 
ful of salt, the same quantity of pounded loaf-sugar, and vine- 
gar enough to cover the ingredients. Keep it closely bot- 
tled, and it will keep for some months. 

Egg Sauce. 

Melt your butter thick, and chop fine two or three eggs 
that have been boiled ten minutes. Put the chopped egg 
into the boat, and pour the melted butter over them. This 
is eaten with boiled chicken or boiled fish. 

Oyster Sauce for a Boiled Cod. 

Strain the oysters from their liquor, wash them out in cold 
water, and drain them dry. Pour the liquor from its sedi- 
ment, and put it over the fire ; to a pint of liquor put one 
glass of claret, the juice of half a lemon, a blade of mace, and 
a little butter thickened with a teaspoonful of flour ; let it al- 
most boil, then add half a pound of butter, and let it melt, 
shaking it well ; lastly add, after taking out the mace, a dozen 
and a half of oysters ; let them scald, but not boil. Put the 
sauce into a boat. 

Game Sauce. 

Grate half of a baker's loaf of bread (cutting off the 
crusts) ; add to it a little salt and grated nutmeg, half a gill of 
20 



230 SEA-KALE. 

claret, and the juice of two oranges ; when your fowls are half 
roasted, put the above over the fire with a quarter of a pound 
of butter, into which you have kneaded two teaspoonfuls of 
flour ; shake it while it melts, then put it under your fowls 
with the gravy in the pan. 

Celery makes a good sauce for game, when cut in bits and 
boiled till tender, adding a little cream, a bit of butter rolled 
in flour, and seasoning with pounded mace and a very little 
nutmeg. Celery is so abundant in flavor that but little spice 
should ever be used with it. 

Venison sauce is usually made by adding to the gravy cur- 
rant-jelly and a glass of red or white wine ; or the jelly may 
be served in small glass dishes, as venison is always eaten 
over chafinaj or hot-water dishes. 

SAUSAGES. Hon. L. J 's Parisian receipt is as 

follows : Three ounces of sage, two and a half of cloves, two 
and a half of pepper, eight of salt, and three nutmegs, to 
twenty-five pounds of meat, which should be one half fat and 
one half lean. This is a very nice receipt for sausages, and 
was given to me by a gentleman who resided several years 
in Paris, and there procured it. It is unnecessary to say 
that the sage and spices should be pulverized, and well 
pounded and thoroughly incorporated with the finely chop-, 
ped meat. It may be cooked either in balls or skins. 

SEA-KALE. ( Chou marin. Orambe maritima.) This 
plant is grown, cooked, and served (excepting the toast) very 
much as asparagus. 

It should be gathered before it is matured, for then it is 
tough and stringy. Soak it in salt and water, and then put 
in some fresh water with a little salt ; let the pot be filled 
with water, and let the kale boil quickly for fifteen or twenty 



SOUPS. 231 

minutes. Drain it very thoroughly, and serve with butter- 
sauce, or bits of butter laid under and over it. This vegeta- 
ble requires to be freshly gathered when it goes to the pot. 
Keep the f)Ot while boiling, for the most part, uncovered. 

SOAP FOR WASHING. Two pounds of hard soap, 
four quarts of rain-water ; let it dissolve ; add one quarter of 
a pound of saleratus ; let it almost boil, then add one tea- 
spoonful of tartaric acid, one teaspoonful of arrowroot ; let it 
all boil twenty minutes. Pour it out into a baking-pan ; let 
it stand all day and over night, then slice it, and put it in 
the oven to dry. This soap makes flannels look handsomely. 

Ox-Gall Soap. 
Take one quart of ox-gall, and slice into it two pounds of 
best yellow soap (Alexander Dickinson's Extra No. 1, man- 
ufactured at Cambridge, Mass., is the kind I have used). Set 
it on the range and let it simmer until the soap is dissolved 
or melted ; add a large spoonful of table-salt, and pour it into 
flat pans ; cut it into bars when cold, and dry it ; it will be- 
come very hard and keep for years. A very little of it will 
wash nice prints, de laines, &c., and it is excellent to wash 
or scour woollen table-cloths, piano-covers, &c. 

SOUPS. I have given some rules for soups when speak- 
ing of almond soup and turtle soup ; here, therefore, I shall 
give but a few receipts for these preparations. To oflEer re- 
ceipts for shank soups, or mutton broths, to American house- 
keepers, would be to expose myself to the rebuke given by 
Judge Marshall to the counsellor who was proceeding to lay 
out his mental wares much as Sydney Smith says a French- 
man does of whom you have imprudently asked information 
upon some point, when the mild Judge finally interrupted the 
everlasting drone of commonplace with, " Mr. , there are 



232 SOUPS. 

some things with which the Court should be supposed to be 
acquainted." 

Clam Soup. 
Brown a quarter of a pound of butter and thicken it with 
flour, then pour in as much water as you judge sufficient for 
your soup, put in a piece of veal or small leg of lamb, and 
one pint of clam-liquor, a finely chopped onion, a little thyme, 
pounded pepper, cloves, and mace, but no salt, as the clam- 
liquor will answer for that ; add a gill of wine, Madeira or 
sherry ; a yam boiled in it is a great improvement ; let it boil 
three hours, when take not less than fifty clams, trim them 
and cut them in small pieces, and throw them in the soup 
half an hour before you dish. The Yam (Dioscorea satlvd) 
is extensively grown in the West Indies ; its root is farina- 
ceous, and it is both roasted and boiled, or served in soups 
when it can be procured, where its presence is thought to be 
much desired. 

Mock-Turtle Soup. 

Boil the well-cleaned calf's head and feet in water just 
sufficient to cover them ; skim it well, and allow it to boil till 
the meat can be easily cut from the bones. Take out all the 
bones and cut the meat in small pieces and strain the liquor 
over it ; add to it one quarter of an ounce of ground pepper, 
one quarter of an ounce of pounded clove, some pulverized 
sweet herbs ; put it again in a clean kettle over the fire, and 
let it simmer, but not boil. About half an hour before you 
take the soup up, put in forcemeat balls ; have the balls the 
size of large English walnuts ; reserve some of the forcemeat 
balls to fry brown in butter ; at the same time have ready a 
bottle of claret or port wine, and pour it into the kettle. 
Boil twelve eggs ten minutes, and when the soup is to be 
sent in, cut the eggs in two pieces and garnish the sides of the 
dish with them and slices of lemon. Have some of the forces 



STRAWBERRT. 233 

meat balls served hot on small oval dishes. These should 
be fried a delicate brown. 

Forcemeat for the above : — Take a loaf of baker's flour- 
bread, and grate it; add an equal quantity of beef-suet, 
chopped very fine ; season highly with pepper, clove, salt, nut- 
meg or mace, cayenne, sweet-marjoram, and wet the whole 
with eggs till they may be rolled in balls. Those which you 
fry will require but little butter, as the fat fries from them. 

Oyster Soup. 

To fifty oysters, one pint of water, one pint and a half of 
milk, to be mixed with the liquor. Wash the oysters from 
their liquor, and strain the last or pour it from its sediment ; 
then add the water, and half a spoonful of ground mace, a 
salt-spoonful of salt, half a salt-sjDOonful of ground clove ; let 
it come to a boil ; strain it through a cloth, then add the milk 
and the oysters, and let it come once more to a boil. Take 
one large spoonful of flour mixed smoothly like mustard, stir it 
in, and take off the pot ; put in a piece of butter ; brown three 
thin slices of bread well dried in the oven previous to toasting, 
cut them in small square pieces and lay them in the dish, and 
pour the soup over them. 

STRAWBERRY. {Fragaria.) Select for this valu- 
able plant a deep loamy soil, that will allow of free culture ; 
for though an herbaceous plant, the roots of many varieties if 
encouraged will penetrate to the depth of two feet in one 
season ; hence the ground should be ploughed and thoroughly 
pulverized to the depth of a foot or more, then spread on a 
few inches of well-decomposed stable-manure, and harrow in, 
making the ground level ; mark it off by a line in alternate 
rows of three feet by eighteen inches. Choose strong young 
plants, taking them up carefully in order that the roots may 
be entire, and set them in the rows, eighteen or twelve inches 
20* 



234 STRAWBERRY. 

asunder. In its wild state, the strawberry blossom is perfect ; 
but culture has altered the habits of most of the varieties, 
though the European Wood and Alpine Strawberries still, un- 
der every cultivation, retain their primitive habits, giving from 
every blossom perfect fruit. Barren plants are those which 
have flowers in an imperfect state, deficient either in stamens 
or pistils ; imperfectly provided with pistils, they are styled 
male plants ; deficient in stamens, female plants. But the 
term is a convenient rather than a correct one, as the or- 
gans are not absent, but only imperfectly matured. 

In view of this habit of the cultivated Strawberry, the plants 
are set out in the proportion of one staminate to fifteen or 
twenty pistillates, either in alternate rows or in close proxim- 
ity. The pistillate flowers produce the fruit, but the pollen 
of the staminate has previously fertilized them. Cultivators 
watch the growth and bearing habits of their plants, and those 
which are barren are not allowed to usurp the bed, but are 
kept trimmed of runners. Stakes may be put in near the 
fruitful plants, and runners be selected from good bearers for 
new beds. 

Early in the spring is the best time for setting out plants, 
varying of course according to the season and the latitude. 
Care should be taken to keep the ground free from weeds 
through the summer, and at the approach of winter the beds 
should be covered two or three inches deep with coarse lit- 
ter, vegetable mould, and earth from the woods. This light 
dressing need not be disturbed in the spring, as the plants 
will find their way through and grow vigorously. 

Varieties. 

These are very numerous, many having been introduced 
from abroad. Our native Wood Strawberry, called abroad 
Virginia Scarlet, has given us the varieties called Scarlet 
Strawberries; the Pine or Surinam Strawberry, the sorts 



STRAWBERRY. 235 

called Pines ; the Wood Strawberry of Europe, the class 
called Woods and Alpines ; the Hautbois are from Bohemia, 
the Chili Strawberries from South America; and besides 
these sorts there are green, white, and black Strawberries. 
For all practical purposes one or two best varieties should 
be chosen, the early and later bearers. 

Early Virginia is an early bearer, yielding early in June 
till towards the last of the month. It is a bright scarlet, 
very juicy, and a general favorite. 

Hovey's Seedling comes into bearing as the Virginia Early 
goes out, and continues into July. As is well known, it was 
raised in 1833 by Messrs. Hovey, in their garden at Cam- 
bridge. It has more than any other variety raised the char- 
acter of the Strawberry. It is easily hulled, yields abun- 
dantly, and the vines are very vigorous. It is cultivated not 
only in New England, but the farmers of Virginia hold it 
their choicest variety. 

Among the Pine Strawberries, Ross's Phoenix, when culti- 
vated on a rich, deep loam, bears a high reputation, and a 
heavy crop of fruit. It grows in clusters, the berries flattened 
at the top ; it has a rich, fine flavor, and a color of dark pur- 
plish-red. In the extreme Eastern States it is an uncertain 
bearer. 

Alpine and Wood Strawberries have varieties which are 
popular, owing to their continuing in bearing till late in the 
season, and to their flavor, which is fragrant and sweet. The 
Bush Alpines are distinguished for being without runners ; 
they are propagated by dividing the roots. They make a 
good border. 

The Hautbois Strawberries have a variety called Prolific 
Hautbois, which bears abundantly. Its flowers are always 
perfect, rising above the leaves ; the fruit is dark-colored, of 
a rich, musky flavor, ripening rather early. The vines some- 
times bear a second crop. This variety does not mix. 



236 TOMATO. 

Preserved Strawberries. 

Take the largest and best garden strawberries that are not 
over-ripe ; weigh against each pound of fruit a pound of the 
best loaf-sugar ; set it aside for the sirup. Sprinkle the fruit 
with a little powdered white sugar ; make the sirup with the 
weighed sugar ; set it one side to cool. Put the strawberries 
over the fire in a bain-marie, with the sirup which they have 
made of the powdered sugar ; let them be scalded and then 
taken off and cooled. When cold, put them in the prepared 
sirup ; let them simmer slowly till they look clear, take them 
out gently into glasses. Boil and skim the sirup, and when 
cold put it over the fruit. The sooner strawberries are pre- 
served after being gathered, the better. (See Cordials.^ 

SWEETBREADS. Veal sweetbreads should be cooked 
while they are fresh ; they spoil easily, and then are entirely 
lost. Trim them, taking out the gristle, and keep them in 
cold water till they are to be cooked. When to be cooked, 
split them open, and put them in boiling water; boil them 
ten minutes, and then take them off and put them in a pan 
of cold water. This treatment renders them white and firm. 
They are now ready to be fricasseed, in the same manner as 
chickens cut up are, or to be fried in butter, or minced for 
omelets or croquettes. 

TOMATO, BAKED. Take tomatoes that are just ripe, 
remove the skins by pouring hot water over them, but in 
peeling keep them as whole as possible. Put into a baking- 
dish grated bread and bits of butter, then a layer of tomatoes 
seasoned with salt, pepper, and a little powdered sugar, a 
bit of butter in the centre of each tomato ; cover with bread- 
crumbs as before, then another layer of tomatoes seasoned and 
finished with grated bread. Tomatoes take a good deal of 
butter if cooked, and require several hours of slow simmering. 
This is a very nice receipt. 



TRUFFLE. 237 

TONGUES. See under Beef. 

TRUFFLE. {Tuher ciharium.) This vegetable has 
never been grown in this country, but in France artificial 
beds have been constructed with a view to produce these 
luxuries. They grow always several inches below the sur- 
face of the ground, so that, in making artificial beds, great 
care is taken to mark the rows where the truflles are plant- 
ed. To construct these beds, the best garden-soil is taken, 
trenched two feet deep, and the stones carefully removed ; to 
this soil is added, in proportions of one tenth, well-powdered 
snail-shells, two parts of well-pulverized clayey soil, and one 
part of oak saw-dust, or, which is better, vegetable mould 
formed from decayed oak or beech leaves, to seven parts of 
good garden-soil. A southern or warm aspect is to be avoid- 
ed. The bed should be soaked a day or two, then rows 
made half a foot in depth, and perfect healthy truffles 
planted six inches apart. The bed should in dry weather be 
kept moist. 

In Europe dogs are trained to hunt for truffles, discover- 
ing them by their scent. Epicures regard them as above all 
price, and near large cities their cultivation would no doubt 
amply repay the trouble and expense of preparing a bed. 
These vegetables grow in clusters. 

They are used in cooking precisely as the mushroom, but 
before cooking they are soaked in warm water for three or 
four hours ; then they require hard brushing with a hair- 
brush kept for such purposes, to have all the earth removed 
from them ; if peeled, they do not look so handsomely, but 
taste better. They are frequently gently simmered with a 
nice seasoning of sweet herbs, spices, a little rich broth, and 
two or three glasses of sherry, and when tender, baked, after 
being taken from the stewpan, for about twenty minutes in a 
moderate oven, then placed in a dish with mashed potatoes for 



238 VEAL. 

a border, and the gravy they were simmered in, reduced (by 
boiling, and a teaspoonful of arrowroot mixed smoothly in 
a cup with a spoonful of water like mustard) to a jelly, 
is poured over them hot, just before they are sent to the 
table. 

TURNIPS. Among the sorts used for the table, the 
Long Yellow French is a favorite. In boiling them, pare off 
the rind, and equalize their size by cutting the larger ones ; put 
them into a pot filled with water. They should be carefully 
drained, and can be served whole, or mashed with a wooden 
spoon, and passed through a colander. When mashed, re- 
turn them to the stewpan with a piece of butter, a little salt, 
cayenne, and, if convenient, a spoonful or two of cream ; beat 
the whole together, and put the turnip into a dish, marking 
the surface in diamonds. 

Some boiled dishes, such as leg of mutton or lamb, are 
sometimes served over a puree of turnip ; that is, turnip 
mashed and nicely seasoned with fresh butter, salt, and 
pepper. 

VEAL. The desirable features for this meat are fatness 
and whiteness, which when conspicuous show that the calf 
was well fed on rich milk, and judiciously bled. Veal 
should be fresh ; never even in winter should it be more than 
three or four days old. The meat of the bull-calf is closer in 
grain, and more red in color, than the cow-calf. To retard 
change, remove the pipe that runs through the chine of a 
loin of veal. 

In the fore-quarter are the neck, shoulder, and breast ; in 
the hind-quarter, the knuckle, leg, fillet, and loin. 

Veal requires to be cooked a good deal, and to be served 
with piquant sauces. 

The leg with the fillet attached to it, the loin, the breast, 



VEAL. 239 

« 

and the shoulder, are generally roasted. The leg and breast 
are stuffed and roasted. The breast is also frequently 
roasted, with bits of thin slices of sweet salt-pork skewered 
to it. 

Braising is a nice process for many pieces of veal. Brais- 
ing is merely stewing slowly in a little broth or water, not 
enough to cover the meat, adding high seasonings, and keep- 
ing the stewpan closely covered. Skewers may be laid in 
the bottom of the stewpan, to prevent the meat from stick- 
ing. 

Forcemeat for a Fillet. 

After the knuckle is sawed offj and the bone taken out of 
the centre of the fillet, fill the space left with the following 
stuffing : Chop up half a pound of salt pork very fine, mix 
with it the same quantity of grated bread-crumbs, one quar- 
ter of a nutmeg, two blades of pounded mace, one teaspoonful 
of sweet-marjoram, the same of summer-savory, a little white 
pepper, and bind the whole together with three eggs. 

Just before the fillet is sent to the table, put into half a gill 
of boiling-hot water the strained juice of a lemon, and three 
table-spoonfuls of Harvey's sauce, and pour it over the meat. 
You may fry some of the stuffing in small balls, and garnish 
the dish alternately with lemon sliced, and the balls nicely 
browned in butter. 

A large fillet, weighing fourteen or fifteen pounds, will 
take three hours roasting, a smaller one, two. Baste it with 
butter, and have a pint of water in the dripping-pan for the 
gravy, which thicken with a little flour dredged in lightly, 
and add a gill of wine and Harvey's sauce mixed together. 
Serve the made gravy in a boat. 

Calf's Head and Feet. 
Wash them well in lukewarm water, sprinkle pounded 



240 VEAL. 

rosin over them, and put them in boiling water, and draw 
them quickly out. The rosin adheres to the hair, which is 
thus readily scraped off. Soak them in cold water to give 
firmness and whiteness. 

Calf s head may be boiled plain, in just water enough to 
cover it, after taking out the eyes, and sawing the bone down 
through the middle of the head, or it may be stewed with 
savory herbs and spice, or used for mock-turtle. (See Soups.) 

The feet are nice fricasseed, boiling them first till the 
large bones can be pulled out, then flavoring the water they 
were boiled in with the juice of a lemon, a gill of wine, a 
large piece of butter with three spoonfuls of flour rubbed 
into it ; let it stew slowly for about twenty minutes, then add 
three well-beaten eggs, and a cupful of cream that has been 
previously boiled with a little salt. Shake the stewpan, but 
do not allow it to boil, putting the egg and cream in just be- 
fore it goes to the table. 

Calf's-Foot Jelly. 

To four large, well-cleaned legs put four quarts of water ; 
let it simmer slowly till reduced to two quarts ; when the meat 
is tender and leaves the bones, take off the kettle, and strain 
the whole through a colander. Let the jelly cool in the 
same room gradually ; when cold remove with a silver spoon 
all the top-fat ; put the jelly into your preserving-kettle, leav- 
ing the sediment at the bottom of the dish. Put to the jelly 
in the kettle the beaten whites and shells of six eggs, the 
strained juice of three large lemons, the thinly pared rind 
of one of the lemons, one pound and a half of the best loaf- 
sugar, crushed with a rolling-pin, one pint of white wine, a 
large nutmeg, a teaspoonful of ground cinnamon. Allow it 
to melt gradually, and do not stir it after it has melted ; as the 
scum accumulates on one side, take it off. Have ready two 
straining-bags made of cotton or linen, sewed on small wood- 



WATCHES. 241 

en hoops ; into one bag put a large teaspoonful of brown 
sugar if you wish a deep color to the jellj, which is to be 
poured upon it. Do not squeeze the bags, it will make the 
jelly muddy. When the jelly is in, cover the aperture of 
the bags. Should it not run clear, return it to the bag. 
When the jelly has passed through the bags, let it remain in 
the same room till it becomes solid. When cool, fill up 
glasses with a spoonful from one dish, and from the other al- 
ternately, or, if you choose, keep them in separate glasses. 
Calf 's-foot jelly looks best broken up in glasses. 

A light-colored jelly is made from the feet of hogs, and 
the exquisite amber-colored jelly often seen at the shops is 
prepared from the feet of sheep. 

Where these jellies are designed for moulds, several bits 
of isinglass are put in to boil with the feet. 

WATCHES. Women's watches are so proverbially out 
of order, that nautical men have framed a proverb which 
says, " A ship, hke a lady's watch, is always out of repair." 

We have selected the following rules of Edward Geafton's 
as useful for those who carry watches. 

Wind your watch as nearly as possible at the same time 
every day. 

Be careful that your key is in a good condition, as there 
is much danger of injuring the machine when the key is 
worn or cracked; there are more mainsprings and chains 
broken through a jerk in winding than from any other cause, 
which injury sooner or later will be the result if the key is 
in bad order. 

As ail metals contract by cold and expand by heat, it 
must be manifest that to keep the watch as constantly as 
possible at one temperature is a necessaiy piece of atten- 
tion. 

Keep the watch as nearly as possible in one position, — 
21 



242 WINE. 

that is, if it hangs by day, let it hang by night against some- 
thing that is soft. 

The hands of a pocket chronometer or duplex watch should 
never be set backwards ; in other watches this is a matter of 
no consequence. 

The glass should never be opened in watches that set and 
recrulate at the back. 

One or two directions it is of vital importance that you 
bear in mind. 

On regulating a watch, should it be going fast, move the 
regulator a trifle towards the slow, and if going slow, do the 
reverse ; you cannot move the regulator too gently or slight- 
ly at a time, and the only inconvenience that can arise is, 
that you may have to perform the duty more than once. On 
the contrary, if you move the regulator too much at a time, 
you will be as far, if not farther than ever, from attaining 
your object ; so that you may repeat the movements until 
quite tired and disappointed, stoutly blaming the watch- 
maker while the fault is entirely your own. 

Again, you cannot be too careful in respect of the nature 
of the watch-pocket ; see that it be made of some material 
that is soft and pliant, such as wash-leather, which is the best, 
and also that there be no flue or nap that may be torn off 
when taking the watch out of the pocket. 

Cleanhness, too, is as needful here as in the case of the 
key before winding ; for if there be dust or dirt in either in- 
stance, it will, you may rely upon it, work its way into the 
watch as well as wear away the engine turning of the case. 

WINE. ( Vinum.) Beside the juice of the vine, we find 
many fruits and plants have always been subjected to the 
processes of fermentation as far back as the memory of man 
runneth, in order to produce the liquor called wine. As 
processes are discovered for preserving fruit and vegetables 



WINE. 243 

in their native spirit without loss of bulk or flavor, as healthy 
mental excitements become generally diffused, and motives 
for self-control increase in a secure ratio, we shall, we confi- 
dently hope, find this instinct of man dying out. Taking 
things as they now are, we shall make a few general remarks 
upon wines. 

It is only by a moderate use of wine that persons can ever 
become good tasters. A wine-merchant in extensive busi- 
ness once remarked to the author that he never swallowed 
his wines when judging of their relative merits, knowing that 
if he did he should soon lose his nicety of taste. The osten- 
tation which induces people to produce several varieties of 
wine at one dinner merits, therefore, censure for more rea- 
sons than one ; after one or two glasses, the nerves of the 
stomach are over-stimulated. 

Port-wine, on account of the imperfectly combined alcohol 
always present in it, is more injurious to stomach and un- 
derstanding than Sherry, even when this is of like strength 
with the Port. Claret and Rhenish are the most innocent. 
Champagne produces but a temporary excitement, followed 
by no after consequences of serious derangement, unlike in 
these respects the wines of Oporto, which, abounding in as- 
tringent qualities and uncombined brandy, are pernicious in 
their effects as a daily drink, even when accompanied with 
great exercise. The Spanish wines, which include the Sher- 
ries, are strong, heady wines, which should be diluted with 
water, excepting when ordered as medicine. Madeira dilut- 
ed is said to be a good wine for the dyspeptic, provided there 
is no disposition to hypochondriasis or melancholy. The 
Bordeaux wines, the best light wines of the Rhine and the 
Moselle, are, for daily use, the least injurious of all wines ; 
they are said to have the little alcohol they contain wholly 
combined. They contain tartaric acid, and thus tend to di- 
minish obesity. Sweet wines disorder the stomach, and their 



244 WINE. 

free use induces intoxication and subsequent suffering as great 
as that brought on by stronger wines. 

Wine kept in casks should be closely stopped, set in a 
place where the temperature will be equal, and where it will 
not be subjected to agitation, which induces precipitated sub- 
stances to mix again with the wine. 

To prevent wine, on putting it into a new cask, from com- 
bining with the properties of the wood, and acquiring a taste 
of the cask, the inside of the cask or hogshead should be 
charred. 

While old Rhenish wines kept in the barrel are said to 
lose one half of their original alcohol, wines put in bottles 
not corked, but tied over with bladder, increase in strength, 
that membrane giving passage to water, but not to spirit. 
Wines, though they part with their strength, improve in other 
qualities by being kept in casks. 

Travellers complain loudly of the adulteration of wine in 
Italy, and find it possible to obtain good wine only from the 
proprietors. Red wine is there often adulterated with sul- 
phate of zinc, and the white with the acetate of lead, both 
virulent poisons, often combined in these wines in such quan- 
tities as to induce violent deaths. 

The processes for wine-making, with slight modifications, 
are the same, whatever fruit or j)lant is employed. In the 
best wine countries, the grape-vine is gi'owft only three or 
four feet high, and the bunches nearest the soil, provided 
they do not touch, are always considered the richest. 

The strength of wines of the same country and grape 
vary. Grapes grown in a light, dry soil, with a southern ex- 
posure, yield wine highly charged with alcohol, while grapes 
of the same species, cultivated in a strong, damp soil, with a 
different aspect, give a wine weak in alcohol. Though the 
strength of wine is regulated by alcohol, its quality and its 
price are decided by its odor and taste ; alcohol furnishes 



WORMS, SLUGS, ETC. 245 

body and strength, but mellowness and perfume are charac- 
teristics mostly sought for in dinner wines. (See Chaptal 
and Johnson's Encycloj)£edia.) 

Among home-made wines, Gooseberry wine is thought 
most to resemble Champagne. 

Champagne Wine of Gooseberries. 

Gather on a dry day one bushel of the best cultivated 
gooseberries, just before they turn to ripen. Bruise them 
very thoroughly ; then pour upon them three gallons of 
scalding water, and put them into an open headed cask that 
has been previously charred. Cover the cask with a blanket ; 
stir them daily two or three times for four days ; press them, 
and to every gallon of the juice put three pounds of loaf or 
good white Havana sugar powdered ; let it dissolve. After 
it has fermented for twelve or fourteen days, being filled 
daily so that the impurities may run over, put the bung on 
lightly, gradually making it firmer, till at the third day it is 
driven in perfectly air-tight. Let it stand in the same tem- 
perature without being stirred till December, when, on a 
clear, dry day, it should be racked off, and have one eighth of 
the best brandy added to it. It may now be again left till 
June, when, if not found bright and clear, it may be refined 
by the beaten whites of six eggs. Bottle it in fresh bottles 
with new corks, and after corking them dip the neck of the 
bottle in bottle-cement. 

WORMS, SLUGS, &c. These frequently destroy the 
appearance of garden walks, and some of the slug and snail 
kind infest plants. To destroy them, water the soil with 
salt and water, putting not more than two pounds of salt to 
four gallons of water. Slices of turnips scattered over beds 
of plants will gather slugs and snails, which thus, on the fol- 
lowing morning, may be removed and destroyed. 



246 WORMS, SLUGS, ETC. 

Rats and mice, it is said, may be driven from fields and 
barns by the presence of the common mullein plant, and also 
of garlic bulbs, if laid round in small stacks, while the oil of 
rhodium and oil of anise-seed, if rubbed on meat, will attract 
rats unfailingly to a trap. 

Tansy leaves, as also elder and walnut leaves, either in 
their actual state or as a decoction, will keep flies from 
animals and meat* 



THE END. 



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